Swim...Bike...Run...whats next??

2011 Year End Review

2012-01-02T19:26:00.000-08:00

2 Jan 2012-

Well 2011 has come to an end, and fortunately I was able to be home for it this year. I had been planning for quite some time to come home and surprise the family for the holidays. I hadn't been home for the holidays in 6 years and I figured I would surprise everyone. I had to tell a few little lies along the way, but in the end my immediate family had no clue. A few of my cousins were in on the whole thing so thanks to them I was able to pull it off. Below is the video of all the surprises:

So to say the least 2011 ended on a high note. A few weeks back I got some exciting news that I was selected as the Osan Air Base Male Athlete of the Year as well as the Pacific Air Force Male Athlete of the Year. I have not won an athlete of the year award at a Majcom level, so this was something that I was hoping to achieve this year. I believe the packages are still up at the Air Force level, but have not heard who was selected as the Air Force Athlete of the Year. A few days after receiving that news I got an email informing me that I was selected to the US Military Cycling Developmental Team. The Military Team has been around for a few years and is slowly growing, this year being the biggest expansion of the team. The team is having a camp in the beginning of February in Florida and I will be headed to that to put in a solid 7 days of training and two races. I am looking forward to this great opportunity and being able to represent the Military during my future cycling endeavour's.

I am focusing on the Tour de Korea which is in April, and have made some changes to my training and coach for this off season. I am being coached by AF Capt Zach Garrett, a long time cyclist and also a member of the US Military Cycling Team. Zach is putting a strong influence on my cycling for the next 4 months with a little bit of focus on my swim and run, just trying to maintain. I will be back with Scott Defilippis come May and we will be back at it with hopefully a focus on Kona.

Looking back on 2011, to sum it up with one word: UNBELIEVABLE. I sit here and look back on it and still don't comprehend how everything feel into place. It wasn't because of what I did, it has more to do with who I was surrounded by. I couldn't of accomplished everything that I accomplished last year without the great group of people that I am surrounded by and supported by. I trained more than I have ever trained before. I achieved all of the goals, plus some that I set out to accomplish last year. I was lead by a great coach and trained with some amazing people. I had huge support from my supervision at work, and thankfully for their support I was able to travel and race quite a bit this past year.

Below are some random stats from over the year of 2011:

Swim- 260.6 KM's/86h17m- AVG 1h40m a Week
Bike- 7,692.5 miles/409h56m-AVG 7h45m a Week
Run- 1,247.5 miles/158h53m-AVG 23.5 Miles a Week
Total- 9,102 miles/655h7m- AVG 12h20mins a Week
Raced- 2 Running Races/8 Tri's/12 Bike Races Total 22 Races
5 Overall Wins/5 AG Wins/7 Top 5's

66 Off Days/3 Countries Visited/Crossed the Pacific 6 times via plane/

Some random thoughts about the above numbers:

If I hadn't raced the TdK, I would of raced a lot less this year than years past. I biked 3X's as much as last year, and my total training time is almost double from last year. I only missed the podium for triathlon in my AG at IM Korea and Kona and I finally made the overall podium in a big race. I actually trained with a goal in mind this year, and stayed focused to accomplish that goal. All in all I like the above #'s, except this random #, I took OFF 66 days this year. I have found consistency is huge, and I was a lot more consistent this year, next year I would like to see that 66 # down in the 20ish range. Someone asked me the other day if I ever "relax", my response was YES, I went out and rode my bike for an hour today. That is RELAXING to me ;)

All in all I am extremely happy with how 2011 went and I am looking forward to 2012. I believe it is going to be a breakthrough year for me and things are already starting off on the right foot. Once again I can't thank everyone enough for all of their support. All of my family is behind me in my passion for what I do, and everyone else that continues to support me I thank you. I have been told that I inspire people, but the funny thing is, those are the people that inspire me to keep going and doing what I do.

Here are some photos from the year:

Exciting News: Representing Team RWB for 2012 and Beyond

2011-11-13T02:24:00.001-08:00

12 Nov 2012-

Some ofyou that have been following me over the past 3 1/2 years may recall a blog Iwrote back in 2010. “Running for a Purpose” , It was then in September of 2010that I changed the way I raced. I had aconversation with a good friend of mine and fellow runner. She had told me that running for yourself getsboring and the satisfaction of your results are not near as great if you runfor something more. Yes, it is great torun and do well and the feeling of succeeding is great. But when you are out on the course and youhave to dig deep, knowing that you are racing for something more than yourselfmakes it that much more rewarding to dig deep and battle it out.

Sincethat race in 2010 I have raced for different reasons every race. I have never asked anyone to donate to afoundation or cause and have never represented a company or organization. For 2012 and many years to come I havedecided to team up with Team RWB. I had heard about Team RWB a little bit here and there fromfellow military triathletes and had been doing a little bit of digging intowhat they were about. So what is Team RWB about?

“Weare a veteran support organization whose mission is to enrich the lives ofwounded veterans and their families. Ultimately, we aim to transform the waywounded veterans are reintegrated into society when they return from combat andexit their position in the Active Duty Reserve force or National Guard.”

So where do I fit into all of this? Wellafter doing some research and connecting with TeamRWB I met one of their representatives out in Kona, Kurt Larson. I spoke with him at the awards banquet aboutTeam RWB and was able to ask some more in depth questions about theorganization, which opened my eyes and made me want to join the team. The next morning I woke up to an email fromMike Erwin, founder and Executive Director of TeamRWB. He asked that I join Team RWBand be an “Elite Ambassador”. This wasan amazing email to receive and opened my eyes to the difference that I couldmake. I could use my athletic presenceand help spread the word about Team RWB.

I have taken my time and ensured this is an organization that I want torepresent. After doing the research andhaving the same hopes and vision that they have I am glad to be joining forceswith them. They already have some bignames involved with the TeamRWB Triathlon Team with TimothyO’Donnell, Jessica Jacobs, Nick VanDam and fellow Air Forceathletes, Kathy Rakel, JamesBales, and Jolene Wilkinson. To joinranks with these amazing athletes and help spread the word about Team RWB and network with other currentmilitary athletes and the wounded veterans is something that I look forward todoing and representing Team RWB the bestthat I can.

DMZ Road Race-First Road WIN!

2011-11-10T05:52:00.001-08:00

6 November-

I came into this race hungry! Getting taken out at the crit after riding really strong was frustrating. I wanted to end the season on a strong note so I put in a big week after my crash and had some solid workouts. The week leading into this race went quite well also. The other objective for this race was to score as many points for our team so that we could win the team event as well. Well this race is in Korea, and well of course it had to have some weird rules to it. So this blog may be a little long trying to explain how the race worked.

The race was going to be "net time" ( Net Time: Participant's unofficial time from when they cross the starting line until they cross the finish line.). What this meant was they were going off of the time you crossed the line at the start to when you crossed it at the finish. Your time didn't start till you crossed the line. At least I knew this going into the race unlike at the hill climb back in April. Then on top of that there was going to be a timing stop point at the top of the first climb, then your time would resume at the bottom of the hill. Someone had died a few years back on this descent so they wanted to make it a safe neutral descent with people not racing down the hill. At the bottom your time would resume and you would race to the finish. The person with the lowest combined time would win.

They started the race in age group waves, not a mass start. Well that is how we thought it would work. Come to find out the waves ended up just going one after another with no separation. I waited about 15 seconds after Derek started, he was in my opinion my biggest competition in the Age Group. He was yelling at me to go thinking I didn't know we were starting, but in all actuality I was "playing" the system. I had been screwed by the Korean system in the past, partially my own fault on not knowing the rules. So I took full advantage of it this time. Took a few minutes to get to the main group as they actually went out quite hard, but used the slingshot method and slowly worked my way up. We had about 10K of flatish section and then we hit the first climb. It was 8.6 miles long and gained 1,800ft. The goal was to put 15seconds into Derek and anyone else in my AG. One guy got up the climb about 6 seconds ahead of me and I was about 6 seconds ahead of Derek, which put me 21 seconds up at that point.

We waited at the top and got a decent size group before we descended. It was cold and rainy so I put a garbage bag on to use as a wind breaker. It worked for the most part but I was COLD! We got to the bottom and had a group of about 15. We got to the timing mat and I waited once again, but this time there were guys there with wands trying to swipe our numbers(that is where the timing chip was). I thought it was a backup system as they also had a timing system set up. Well this is where Derek got some of the time back as I got swiped way before him, probably those 15 seconds, so much for playing the system at the start. So off we went.

The second climb is where I had planned to attack to break the group up a bit. I got up the road and probably opened up about a 30 second to 45 second gap. I held that gap till about 3/4 of the way up the climb then Mr. Lee(the guy who was on our team during the TdK and prior Olympian, who is also 50) and Derek came by me. I stayed with Derek up the rest of the climb and then we were off on the downhill. We ended up with 5 in our group and we started working really well together. The goal was to now hammer to the finish. I had Elmer from my team with me and Derek had a teammate, and then Mr. Lee was riding for himself. With about 10k to go I talked with Elmer about our plan. He was solo in his AG and I convinced him to lead me out when we got to the home stretch. Derek thought I was talking about breaking away and got a little pissed and told us to stay with the group. We all kept working hard and with about 1k to go Elmer got to the front and drilled it hard out of the last corner. I sat on his wheel and with about 500m to go he came off the front. I knew this was a little far out for me but I had to give it ago, well I thought I did. All of the sudden Mr. Lee comes from 3rd wheel back and attacks like a bat out of hell. I got on his wheel luckily and held on till 200m to go and came around him. He performed a perfect un intentional lead out for me and it worked liked it was planned out ahead of time.

So with 200m to go I was out of the saddle staring down the finish line and well I was first across the line :) But with Net timing you never know if you actually won the race or your AG. When the results came out I was the Age Group winner, but we never saw overall placings. I know there were a few guys that had "faster" overall times than me, but we weren't racing for overall placing we were racing for AG. I still feel like I was the strongest guy on the day and raced really smart. I think I shocked quite a few people who hadn't raced with me since the TdK and opened up some eyes.

Overall it was a great day. I got home that night and this was the quote on FB
"Picked up my first Road Race Win today! At a loss for words, other than the fact that the US Military is leaving an impact on the Korean Cycling scene. The only 2 races in 3 weekends WE have put those colors on the podium! Proud to serve and even prouder to represent those great colors! Congrats to everyone else on Team Rapha STORCK for a great performance this weekend!"

It was a great weekend. So what did I win? 44kg's of rice! Yes, that is a LOT of rice! Our team actually won a total of 194kg's of rice, 428lbs! We are all doing different things with it and some is going to an orphanage. I donated some to a Korean lady who cleans our work building and she broke down and was so grateful for the rice, it is touching to see someone appreciate the small things in life to me, when they are big things in life to her. Our team ended up taking 2nd Overall, another Korean crazy thing. We had 6 people which accumulated: 2 wins and 3 2nd place finishes in our respective Age Groups. By the numbers we were the strongest team, but we got beat by a team who had 50 riders, and each rider got a point for finishing so they beat us. It was weird that they didn't cap the amount of members but O well.

Thanks for all of the support from everyone. Special thanks goes out to Jeremy Moon our Team Manager, Pablo the team owner and Elmer for a great early lead out. Then to Alex for driving and finishing the race in the horrible conditions to get our team points. To Chae, Megan and Stephen for all getting on the podium and getting us those needed points!

For those of you interested in the ride data, here is the garmin file: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/126814746activity/126814746
and for those of you Power folks here are the power numbers are at the bottom below the pictures:

Coming up the second climb with Derek pulling me in.

Right next to Derek further up the 2nd climb.

On the 1st descent with my garbage bag. Come to think of it I should of just put it inside the jersey ;)

Right before Elmer came to the front to lead out.

The sprint finish, Mr. Lee on my right side, Dereks teammate behind me and Derek back in 4th and then Elmer exhausted from his great leadout

After the finish just rolling through.

The Podium with the great colors of U.S. Military Cycling on TOP!

4 of the 44kg of rice. Derek is bringing me the rest when he comes down for Thanksgiving.

Entire workout (255 watts):
    Duration:     2:15:46
    Work:          2021 kJ
    TSS:           199.9 (intensity factor 0.958)
    Norm Power:    307
    VI:            1.2
    Pw:HR:          -4.18%
    Pa:HR:          -30.78%
    Distance:     43.89 mi
    Elevation Gain:        3417 ft
    Elevation Loss:       3393 ft
    Grade:         0.0 % (19 ft)
        Min    Max    Avg
    Power:           0    991    255     watts
    Heart Rate:     40    237    128     bpm
    Cadence:         9    129    87     rpm
    Speed:           0    49    19.5     mph
    Pace             1:14    0:00    3:04     min/mi
    Altitude:        339    2240    1021     ft
    Crank Torque:    0    1711    253     lb-in
    Temperature:     44.6    53.6    49.9     Fahrenheit

Peak 5s (931 watts):
    Duration:     0:05
    Work:          4 kJ
    TSS:           n/a
    Norm Power:    n/a
    VI:            n/a
    Pw:HR:          0.96%
    Pa:HR:          -5.71%
    Distance:     208 ft
    Elevation Gain:        0 ft
    Elevation Loss:       0 ft
    Grade:         0.0 % (0 ft)
        Min    Max    Avg
    Power:           837    991    931     watts
    Heart Rate:     156    156    156     bpm
    Cadence:         98    109    104     rpm
    Speed:           27.2    30    28.9     mph
    Pace             2:00    2:12    2:04     min/mi
    Altitude:        368    368    368     ft
    Crank Torque:    707    828    759     lb-in
    Temperature:     53.6    53.6    53.6     Fahrenheit

Peak 10s (744 watts):
    Duration:     0:10
    Work:          7 kJ
    TSS:           n/a
    Norm Power:    n/a
    VI:            n/a
    Pw:HR:          40.33%
    Pa:HR:          -3.78%
    Distance:     430 ft
    Elevation Gain:        0 ft
    Elevation Loss:       0 ft
    Grade:         0.0 % (0 ft)
        Min    Max    Avg
    Power:           445    991    744     watts
    Heart Rate:     156    156    156     bpm
    Cadence:         98    111    107     rpm
    Speed:           27.2    31.1    29.5     mph
    Pace             1:56    2:12    2:02     min/mi
    Altitude:        368    368    368     ft
    Crank Torque:    339    828    593     lb-in
    Temperature:     53.6    53.6    53.6     Fahrenheit

Peak 20s (641 watts):
    Duration:     0:20
    Work:          12 kJ
    TSS:           n/a
    Norm Power:    n/a
    VI:            n/a
    Pw:HR:          29.42%
    Pa:HR:          -2.75%
    Distance:     890 ft
    Elevation Gain:        0 ft
    Elevation Loss:       0 ft
    Grade:         0.0 % (0 ft)
        Min    Max    Avg
    Power:           254    991    641     watts
    Heart Rate:     156    161    158     bpm
    Cadence:         90    112    102     rpm
    Speed:           27.2    31.7    30.2     mph
    Pace             1:54    2:12    1:59     min/mi
    Altitude:        368    368    368     ft
    Crank Torque:    191    920    535     lb-in
    Temperature:     53.6    53.6    53.6     Fahrenheit

Peak 30s (600 watts):
    Duration:     0:30
    Work:          17 kJ
    TSS:           n/a
    Norm Power:    n/a
    VI:            n/a
    Pw:HR:          5.03%
    Pa:HR:          -6.32%
    Distance:     0.249 mi
    Elevation Gain:        0 ft
    Elevation Loss:       0 ft
    Grade:         0.0 % (0 ft)
        Min    Max    Avg
    Power:           254    991    600     watts
    Heart Rate:     155    161    158     bpm
    Cadence:         90    112    99     rpm
    Speed:           26.2    31.9    29.7     mph
    Pace             1:53    2:18    2:01     min/mi
    Altitude:        368    368    368     ft
    Crank Torque:    191    920    514     lb-in
    Temperature:     53.6    53.6    53.6     Fahrenheit

Peak 1min (463 watts):
    Duration:     1:00
    Work:          27 kJ
    TSS:           n/a
    Norm Power:    n/a
    VI:            n/a
    Pw:HR:          -72.19%
    Pa:HR:          -17.06%
    Distance:     0.452 mi
    Elevation Gain:        0 ft
    Elevation Loss:       10 ft
    Grade:         -0.6 % (-14 ft)
        Min    Max    Avg
    Power:           182    991    463     watts
    Heart Rate:     148    161    154     bpm
    Cadence:         54    112    95     rpm
    Speed:           22.2    31.9    27.1     mph
    Pace             1:53    2:42    2:13     min/mi
    Altitude:        368    383    371     ft
    Crank Torque:    162    920    408     lb-in
    Temperature:     53.6    53.6    53.6     Fahrenheit

Peak 2min (408 watts):
    Duration:     2:00
    Work:          48 kJ
    TSS:           n/a
    Norm Power:    n/a
    VI:            n/a
    Pw:HR:          24.8%
    Pa:HR:          7.81%
    Distance:     0.417 mi
    Elevation Gain:        161 ft
    Elevation Loss:       0 ft
    Grade:         7.8 % (171 ft)
        Min    Max    Avg
    Power:           218    551    408     watts
    Heart Rate:     98    135    114     bpm
    Cadence:         84    106    94     rpm
    Speed:           9.9    15.7    12.3     mph
    Pace             3:50    6:02    4:52     min/mi
    Altitude:        680    850    770     ft
    Crank Torque:    179    520    369     lb-in
    Temperature:     50    50    50.0     Fahrenheit

Peak 5min (385 watts):
    Duration:     5:00
    Work:          115 kJ
    TSS:           12 (intensity factor 1.199)
    Norm Power:    384
    VI:            1
    Pw:HR:          22.8%
    Pa:HR:          24.99%
    Distance:     0.965 mi
    Elevation Gain:        383 ft
    Elevation Loss:       0 ft
    Grade:         7.6 % (388 ft)
        Min    Max    Avg
    Power:           218    556    385     watts
    Heart Rate:     98    153    129     bpm
    Cadence:         76    109    89     rpm
    Speed:           7.8    17.5    11.4     mph
    Pace             3:26    7:40    5:16     min/mi
    Altitude:        678    1065    879     ft
    Crank Torque:    179    573    368     lb-in
    Temperature:     50    50    50.0     Fahrenheit

Peak 10min (360 watts):
    Duration:     10:00
    Work:          215 kJ
    TSS:           21.8 (intensity factor 1.143)
    Norm Power:    366
    VI:            1.02
    Pw:HR:          27.73%
    Pa:HR:          -1.44%
    Distance:     2.144 mi
    Elevation Gain:        680 ft
    Elevation Loss:       0 ft
    Grade:         6.0 % (682 ft)
        Min    Max    Avg
    Power:           131    627    360     watts
    Heart Rate:     98    167    142     bpm
    Cadence:         74    109    90     rpm
    Speed:           7.8    25    12.6     mph
    Pace             2:24    7:43    4:46     min/mi
    Altitude:        678    1358    1041     ft
    Crank Torque:    114    670    340     lb-in
    Temperature:     48.2    50    49.5     Fahrenheit

Peak 20min (350 watts):
    Duration:     20:00
    Work:          420 kJ
    TSS:           41.6 (intensity factor 1.117)
    Norm Power:    357
    VI:            1.02
    Pw:HR:          14.56%
    Pa:HR:          22.41%
    Distance:     4.039 mi
    Elevation Gain:        1335 ft
    Elevation Loss:       0 ft
    Grade:         6.3 % (1336 ft)
        Min    Max    Avg
    Power:           131    627    350     watts
    Heart Rate:     98    170    150     bpm
    Cadence:         64    109    86     rpm
    Speed:           5.3    25    11.8     mph
    Pace             2:24    11:22    5:06     min/mi
    Altitude:        673    2008    1360     ft
    Crank Torque:    114    670    348     lb-in
    Temperature:     48.2    50    48.9     Fahrenheit

Peak 30min (320 watts):
    Duration:     32:07
    Work:          576 kJ
    TSS:           56.2 (intensity factor 1.067)
    Norm Power:    341
    VI:            1.07
    Pw:HR:          18.72%
    Pa:HR:          41.62%
    Distance:     5.428 mi
    Elevation Gain:        1654 ft
    Elevation Loss:       0 ft
    Grade:         5.8 % (1661 ft)
        Min    Max    Avg
    Power:           0    793    320     watts
    Heart Rate:     64    170    141     bpm
    Cadence:         11    117    86     rpm
    Speed:           0    25    11.7     mph
    Pace             2:24    0:00    5:09     min/mi
    Altitude:        550    2211    1491     ft
    Crank Torque:    0    761    316     lb-in
    Temperature:     46.4    50    48.4     Fahrenheit

Peak 60min (282 watts):
    Duration:     1:00:12
    Work:          1016 kJ
    TSS:           99.3 (intensity factor 0.996)
    Norm Power:    319
    VI:            1.13
    Pw:HR:          19.06%
    Pa:HR:          -47.38%
    Distance:     21.641 mi
    Elevation Gain:        1438 ft
    Elevation Loss:       1920 ft
    Grade:         -0.4 % (-488 ft)
        Min    Max    Avg
    Power:           0    991    282     watts
    Heart Rate:     71    188    131     bpm
    Cadence:         15    129    86     rpm
    Speed:           0    49    21.5     mph
    Pace             1:14    0:00    2:47     min/mi
    Altitude:        356    1678    734     ft
    Crank Torque:    0    1711    285     lb-in
    Temperature:     48.2    53.6    51.8     Fahrenheit

A Warm Welcome to Crit Racing=Meeting Pavement :(

2011-10-27T04:44:00.000-07:00

22 Oct- Changwon "World" Criterium

Yes, you read that correctly, I raced 14 days after Kona. While most people are slowing down and preparing for their "off season", I am still going strong. There were 2 cycling races upon my return to Korea that I wanted to race before I called the 2011 season to an end. One was a criterium which was this race. The biggest reason to race this race was it was a 2012 TdK qualifier, and to make things better it had a $12,500 prize purse.

I wasn't really sure how it was going to go. I did just do an IRONMAN 14 days earlier and wasn't too sure how the body was feeling. I have switched coaches for the off season, more to come on that later. I am going to a cycling focus to prepare to the best of my ability for the Tour de Korea which is in April 2012. I will still be coached by Team TBB Online Coaching and Scott Defilippis after the TdK. Obviously things went really well with him this year and we get along great. I just have a good friend who is a pure cyclist that I have faith he can get me into some amazing cycling form. So with that being said he put together my workouts leading into this crit. I posted some solid numbers during the week and was quite shocking to see them myself. How did I recover so quick? I take recovery as serious as some of my biggest training weeks, it is a crucial part to being able to bounce back and race right away. I take it really really easy when I am told to and I listen to my body.

We arrived down to Changwon after about 5 hours of travel. It was raining and I was not looking forward to racing my first crit in the rain. It had 2 180 degree turns, with one having a lot of sidewalk "paint" markings on it. Which makes for a slippery surface and dangerous corners. I was out warming up and was pulled aside by Chuck Hutcheson, a member of the US Military Cycling Team. He wanted to show me the perfect line to take through the sketchy corner, he knows I am a triathlete and took me under his wing. He is 39 years old and is full of great wisdom and knowledge. Of course I took his advice and put it to use in the race when I was told to use that line, only in a breakaway.

The rain lifted an hour or so before the race start but the road never completely dried up. We had 2 neutral laps, each lap was 2.4K and then we were off. To make things interesting there were primes every 5 laps, which made for some serious hammer sessions. I raced to my strengths and tried to get out in a few breaks, but we never had a successful breakaway. I stayed up towards the front as much as possible, sometimes dropping back to mid pack. With 2 laps to go we were all together and I had nothing to lose. After coming across the start finish line it went slightly uphill then the 180 turn and slightly back down hill. Right after the start finish I went off the front. I stayed off the front for about 3/4 of a lap and they brought me back in. I thought I was done at this point, but then I was able to recover in half a lap. I started coming back through the group on the back stretch and they weren't going that hard.

I figured I would give it one last shot, off the front I went again, and I went off hard. I opened up a small gap and came through the last corner in the lead, but still had 1200m to go. About 200m out of the corner the eventual winner, Chris Uberti (CAT1 from the midwest) and Chuck (who is also a CAT1) came around me. At this point I knew I couldn't hang on to their wheels so off they went, at this point I wanted to avoid a field sprint so I started lifting up slowly. About 200m later my front wheel gets swiped by some guy and sends my front end into a vicious wobble. My right foot comes un clipped and at that point I thought I had it save until someone got into my rear wheel and well the rest is history, I slid on the ground for a bit, luckily it was wet. As I lay in the road for a few seconds, I realize I should get up before I get hit, good idea right? So I look down the road and can't see anyone coming, slowly get up and take 2 steps then WHHHAMMM Kamikaze Korean cyclist hits me, now a pedestrian with no bike and I go flying into air. Don't ask me how but he managed to catch me right in the jaw with either his helmet or shoulder, but I am pretty sure he recorded a KO, but I think I survived the 10 count, I mean I did get back up and ride my bike to the finish line, only took about 2 minutes to get up and going because I though my jaw was broken.

Luckily the only injuries I sustained was some road rash on my rear and really sore jaw. 5 days later I am at the pool and some little kid in the locker room is whispering to his dad. I turn around to see what he is talking about and sure enough he is pointing straight at my bare ass and telling his dad about my "owwy". Awkward to say the least, but the kid was kind enough to ask how I was doing when I told him I crashed my bike. I told him I was doing good and even big kids fall of their bikes ;)

In all reality this was a warm welcome to the wonderful world of crit racing. I have really started to enjoy cycling as it is so tactical. I learned a lot from this race and am really happy with how I did other than going down. It wasn't the fact of how I did that was so rewarding. It was the fact that I helped organize getting 3 American Cyclist living in the US out here for this race. I put a lot of effort into making this happen with the race organizer(they were supporting 10 people to come from all over the world). I really enjoyed making sure these 3 guys had a good time in Korea and were able to experience the Korean cycling scene. Lucky for Chuck he was able to finish 2nd and take home a nice pay check. It was the highlight of my trip to make connections like that and help him get out here for this race and show what US Military Athletes are capable of.

Thanks again to everyone for their support. A big shout out to Rapha Storck Korea for organizing our logistics for the trip, and a big THANKS to Jeremy Moon our team manager, he is a hard working man who is often over looked. Our team really appreciates what he does, thanks man! The race organizers also did an outstanding job, one of the best racing experiences I have had, hands down a first class event! Special thanks to Maria Choe for helping out with all the logistics of the stateside guys!

Here are some pictures from the race:

Kona 2011 Race Report--Experience Like NO Other

2011-10-15T03:11:00.000-07:00

8 Oct 2011-

I made it to the big dance, injury free, in one piece and with more support than I have ever had at a race. It seemed surreal, to be at the start line of the biggest race in triathlon in such a short time period. It hasn't been because I am "talented", or "athletic" or have "good genetics", it is because of multiple things, but I think this quote which was the first post after the race is why I got there so fast "You don't become good on your own, you become good by the people you surround yourself with!!". I have surrounded myself with some amazing people, and that is why I made it to that start line. I have not chosen these people, they have not chosen me, we have just crossed paths at the right times or have been forced to be involved in each others lives. I have been truly blessed to be surrounded by such a great group of people along this journey, and I cannot be thankful enough for that. So onto how the race went............

Swim-
We all know this is my "weak" point. I had heard horror stories of this swim as it is non wetsuit and it is the true washing machine effect. Well after about the first 3 minutes I didn't think it was all that bad. I think I spotted some dolphins on the bottom of the ocean floor as we were swimming along. I just tried to stay on peoples feet and was somewhat successful the first half of the swim. The second half of the swim I stayed on the same feet the whole time and I believe I was able to save quite a bit of injury this way. I wanted to swim 1 hour to 1:05, I barely made that mark and came out of the water in: 1:04:24

T1/T2-

Just another day in the changing tent, trying to get out of there as quick as possible! T1- 2:49/T2- 3:21

Bike-
Well I thought I was a stronger biker than most. Well my cycling ego got put in check real quick, there were guys and girls blowing by me left and right. I swear up Palani (a small climb up to the Queen K (the big highway which most of the ride is on) ) there was King of the Mountain Points at the top, because people were blowing by me mashing some serious watts. This was all part of the plan, let a bunch of people out ride me to T2, because that is not where the race ends. I kept an eye on my watts, focused on my nutrition and just took it easy. Slowly building throughout the ride and just staying focused, never looking 30 minutes or more down the road. I felt good on the bike till mile 85. This is when my stomach started to give me problems, similar to Korea but not quite the same. I learned in Korea I had taken in too much so was trying not to over do it. I heard horror stories about Perform(the on course electrolyte drink), so I stopped drinking it at mile 85 and just went to water and ate a little more of my cliff blocks to compensate for no electrolyte drink. My stomach settled down and I ensured to get in the rest of my liquid Perpetum/EFS bottle about 30 minutes out from T2. Below is a comparison from the Korea IM Bike to Kona IM Bike. I would like to say by the numbers I rode it smarter and more effective.

(Click to enlarge)

GPS Bike File

Just Enjoying the Bike

Run-
So I went into this race feeling that my run had really made some big improvements since Korea. I am not sure why, did a lot of similar stuff as before, but I was just feeling really strong. I got off the bike and felt good. I set my watch to go off if I ran faster than 6:50 miles, knowing damn well I wasn't going to be running that fast. Sure enough I got soaked up in all the cheering on Ali'i drive and it went off during the first mile. I thought to myself wow this 6:50 pace doesn't feel all that bad, then reality hit and I was at mile 1, settle down buddy! I set back in and just kept holding a steady pace.

I wouldn't admit to this before the race, but I got caught up in running with Chris McCormick (Macca) on Friday and ran a little longer than expected. I asked him a simple question during our "group" run of a total of 6 people. I asked him "Do you have any advice for the Energy Lab?, and then right after I answered with "It is just another piece of road?". He agreed that it was just another piece of road. It is at mile 20 which is where all races get tough in a marathon or IM. His advice to me was simple, and it was advice he had given a friend of his who was struggling to have a good marathon split in an IRONMAN. He told me that I have 6 times to walk and that is it. He advised at the aid station at the top of Palani and special needs in the Energy Lab. The other 4 were up to me........Well I used those "walks" wisely and only used 5 of them, never knew when I was going to need that 6th one. That was some of the best advice that I have received in regards to the marathon of an IM, I don't think there is a better person to get it from.

I kept waiting for that "wall" to pop up that comes up and bites almost everyone in a marathon, that mile 18-24 point where the wheels fall off and all goes south. The wall was out there but just kept running with me, right in front of me. I never hit it, not sure why. It could be because I was not dreading the run, I was out there having a good time, why dread something that is so amazing. I would make jokes, talk with people and they would all look at me like I was crazy. I guess when you pass 271 people on the run you get a lot of people that are "struggling" and don't think you being all happy go lucky is that funny. The miles just ticked away and in no time I was back an Ali'i. Then the emotions hit, well they didn't hit till I picked up the American Flag. It wasn't in the plan by any means, I got it from a random stranger. Not sure who he was but I owe him big time, it was awesome to run down the finishing chute caring that flag high and being a proud american. This day was for the troops and there wasn't a better way to honor all of them that have not come home or that are currently deployed then by flying that flag high and proud to the finish line. I have been able to hold my emotions in in the past, but this day they flooded out, tears of joy, tears of accomplishment, I had made it to the finish line in a time that was in no ones radar. Not even my own, not even my coaches, not even my biggest supporters, I shocked myself.

So that was it, just another race, another course, just a bunch of fast athletes!

Run Splits, really ran a 3:11:16, but didn't stop my watch when I crossed the line. I think the last mile was around sub 7 pace :) (click to enlarge)

The amazing feeling of accomplishment, Thanks Jen Loos for the Picture!

Thanks to Slowtwitch's enhanced results here are some in depth numbers of the race:

Click to englarge

Once again I just want to THANK everyone, especially my Family who was so supportive during this trip. It was amazing having some great friends there, with Ryan and Amy taking great care of me. Amy has raced Kona twice, and was a great source of knowledge. Then Ryan took some awesome photos and was an awesome post race party animal. He busted out some dance moves and started a dance off with a good friend of mine. Truly an awesome post race party. Thanks again everyone. Some BIG NEWS coming in the next couple of weeks, looking forward to what is coming next season and what I will be representing and racing for!

Kona Post Race Thoughts

2011-10-12T07:10:00.000-07:00

8 October 2011-

As I sit here on the plane headed back to the land of the“morning calm” (South Korea), I am headed back to reality. The problem with heading back to “reality”,is that I don’t enjoy it. What I enjoyis what I was surrounded by this past 12 days. I was surrounded by my greatest supporters, FAMILY, and some greatfriends. I have great friends back inKorea, but I don’t have my immediate family. I was also surrounded by one of the most electrifying experiences in thetriathlon world, the most talented triathletes in the world and I was amongthem. It is the lifestyle that I havechosen over the past 3 ½ years, but it wasn’t until soaking in this wholeexperience that I realized that is what I want reality to be. I experienced a similar feeling during theTour de Korea, it is amazing to wake up every morning and do something that youlove and enjoy. Most people cannot saythat when they wake up every morning, I WANT to be able to say that.

The reason I am writing this is I had a conversation with agreat mentor of mine on Monday afternoon. I called her in regards to some information about Team RWB (more to comeon that in the coming weeks), from an athletes perspective. She is the Air Forces top female triathleteand has won the Armed Forces Champs the past two years, and was last yearsfemale Air Force Athlete of the Year. Her name is Kathy Rakel. I havenever met her, but she has been a great mentor to me, via email. In talking about Team RWB, she asked me aquestion that others have asked before, but coming from her it opened myeyes. She said something along the linesof “Your ultimate goal is to get your Pro card, right?” Those are big wordscoming from her, she knows what it takes, she knows how hard it is to getthere. She has done it, she is there.

My answer to her was what I think about chasing thatdream. It is only a dream right now; itis not realistic to think about that right now. Another person’s advice I take greatly is Dev Paul, a fellow SlowTwitcher. The best advice he gave to meleading up to IM Korea back in July was, “Brad, never think further than 30minutes down the road during the race.” Taking Dev’s advice I would let my mind wonder both during Korea andKona, and I would think back to that great advice and when the mind wouldwonder that comment would come back into my head and I would re concentrate onwhat I had to do in those next 30 minutes. Now when you think about it, an IRONMAN is 17 hours, if you want to bean IRONMAN. Those “next” 30 minutes areonly 2.9% of the race. Why do I mentionthis, well let me explain……..

My answer back to Kathy is what I see as “reality”. I told her, yes that would be a goal of minebut it is not an immediate goal right now. I will evaluate that goal 3 years from now, why 3 years? Well I have good faith that I can live to be101 years old, and well 3 years of 101 years, is that magical 2.9%. So taking Devs advice, I don’t want to lookto far down this “race” of life. I wantto take it in small chunks, evaluating life as the curveballs come at me. I can’t tell you where I will be in 3 years. I will have the option to re enlist, possiblyapply to Officer Training School, or get out and pursue a professional careeroutside the military. Or if the next 3years go well, and I continue to progress as a triathlete, I will at that timemake a decision to pursue my Pro card. But I am not looking that far down the road, YET ;)

Hopefully that answers the question that I have been askedin the past and the present about my future plans in triathlon and my thoughtson going pro. I had a great race thispast weekend, but when you look at the big picture, I was 225^thoverall, Craig Alexander beat me by an hour and a half, my age group winnerbeat me by 41 minutes and I was 32^nd out of 96 in my Age Group. I am not in a position right now to go pro,but with the right mentors and the right guidance by great people I believe Ican make it there.

There are just some variables that are out of my control, itis like an IRONMAN you just control the things you can, and if I continue tojust concentrate on those 30 minute chunks I believe I can get there. It seems like such a long shot for this mediocrehigh school athlete from Riverbank, to be aiming for the stars, but if you aimfor the stars you fall to the trees, you aim for the tress you fall to theground. Dream big, and if you don’tachieve your goals, at least it is one amazing journey along the way.

(Just for clarification, I do think long term in terms ofother life goals, but for sports/triathlon, I don’t look that far ahead;). I have been raised by great parentsthat have taught me to work hard and plan for retirement, which is one exampleof something that I look at more than 3 years down the road.)

Kona Pre Race Blog

2011-10-07T23:21:00.000-07:00

7 Oct 11-

Well it is the night before the race and just got done with a great meal. The great thing about triathlon is the amount of people that you meet throughout the years. Tonight I invited some friends over, new and old for a little feast. We had about 13 people over, from as far as the UK and as close as our same condo village. Germany, Wisconsin, UK, California, Canada all came together and had a great meal. So that was awesome!

Now onto a quick pre race blog:

People have been asking how I am feeling about the race and how my nerves are doing. Honestly this is just another race, another course, but the only difference is just a bunch of FAST athletes, it is the world champs and all. I am not nervous, just going out there to soak in the experience and take it all end.

Here are the splits that I want to hit:

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

Honestly my biggest goal is finishing, but beyond that I want sub-10. This will be my last IM for at least 5-6 years. There is one other way I would race next year, but it would be here and it is a complete long shot. As for placing, like I said this is the World Champs, I am not shooting for an overall or AG placing. It is just me and the clock out there.

I always race for a purpose, tomorrow I already had planned to race for all our service members currently deployed. I currently have a few friends over there that are actually triathletes. General Brad Becker and Major Eric Reid (Eric is actually headed back home right now), this one is for you guys! Also to everyone else out there that is serving our great nation and all of those that have not returned home (POW/MIA) and all of those that we have lost. It is going to be an emotional day out there, and racing for all of those that don't have the great opportunity to take place in this great event, this ones for you! I will also be racing as fast as I can, but it is going to be a hard day emotionally not knowing if my dad and step mom will be making it here in time. Their flight was canceled today so they are now not due in till 1330, which is right around the time I should be headed out on the run. Hopefully the traffic isn't horrible and they can make it down to the finish line. Please keep them in your prayers so they get on their flight and make it here on time.

For everyone wanting to follow the race, luckily Amy and Ryan are both here and will be posting updates on twitter which should feed into my FB. The race starts at 7am Hawaii time, 10am California time, and 1pm East Coast Time, 2am Sunday Korea Time. IRONMAN Live should be sending time splits to my twitter, and you can get mid race splits from (www.ironman.com) and then look for athlete tracker.

News Article (Click Link)

From Left to Right (Amy, Jana, Julie, Julia)

Left to Right (Edward, Sarah, Ryan)

The bags laid out for transition bags and special needs

Everything laid out, somewhat organized ;)

The race bike in race setup

Quick Kona Update 2

2011-10-06T18:50:00.000-07:00

6 Oct 11-

I was going to write a piece on Financial obligation to complete an IRONMAN, and an outlook on my expenses for this season. I figured since it is not completely over I would wait until post Kona, you never know how much the airline company will charge you, so that could vary the total cost of the season ;)

So instead here are some quick updates from the last 3 days.

There was a kids swim/run, my little sister took part. This was her first open water swim and the water was a little rough so my step dad stayed with her but she finished the swim on her own. The parents were saying the swim was worse than most mass starts they had been in, the kids were brutal out there.

Winter, from Team Winter (http://www.teamwinter.org/) with my sis. Check out her site for more info, she was 2nd Overall, and almost ran down the winner who was a boy. He ran barefoot so if she didn't put shoes on she could of got him.

Tony Kannan, Indy Car Driver. I told him that I raced quartermidgets growing up and knew Bryan Clauson. Him and his wife are both very impressed with Bryan. Now we are just trying to talk BC into a Triathlon ;)

Stopped by the World Bicycle Relief talk and contributed $25, contributing another 3 bikes in a few weeks to Jordan Rapps Fundraiser. Keep an eye on Slowtwitch for Jordan's announcement.

So some of you may know that I am out here on PTDY (Permissive Temporary Duty) for the Air Force. They are not paying for the trip, all expenses are incurred by self. So with that being said, I try and promote the Air Force and represent the US Armed Services in a good light. I am still getting paid my normal salary and am not having to work, so it is the least I can do. I wear shirts that AF logos on them, or a cycling kit with the same, or a visor with the AF logo. I try and promote our military in a good light and not bring any negative image upon us.

With that being said today was the "UnderPants Run", here is a video which explains it: http://www.active.com/triathlon/Articles/How-the-Kona-Underpants-Run-Got-Started.htm

So in honor of the Underpants run I got in a little skimpy speedo, went all out on the attire and ensured I had no military affiliation on me. It would of looked bad if I had a big AF Logo on with the below picture, but in reality, if you know the whole story and what was happening today it would not be all that bad. We were fundraising money for the Special Olympics and that is of course a good cause. So as hideous as the outfit is and I did take it to an extreme, it was for a good cause. Here are two pictures, I know there are more out there and I am sure they will make it around FB, Twitter, Lava Magazine, Slowtwitch etc......But remember this was for a good cause.

From the Underpants run, courtesy of Jay Prasuhn!

Even with a "little" hair I could still pick up on the chicks ;) My new friend Jana, I actually met her on the flight over from Honolulu. She is here spectating and is planning to do her first triathlon next year.

Well I think you have "seen" enough of me for today. Headed to the race brief and pasta dinner tonight. Going to sit with the potential M35-39 Winner, Cam Loos, of the US Navy. As much as I would like our AF guy to win, Cam is in top shape and is a former pro. Rooting for him to do the US proud and win his AG.

Look out for the Pre-Race blog tomorrow, I will also make my race predictions on there for the Pro Race!

My Path to Kona: Part 2

2011-10-05T18:06:00.000-07:00

3 Oct 2011-

In my last blog I talked about what it took to get to Kona briefly. I have now been here for 2 days and have just been soaking it all up. It is such an unreal feeling to be here, almost feels like a fantasy world. The vibe here is crazy, the place is electric and everywhere you look there are all kinds of fit people. It is the lifestyle that these people live, there are people here who aren't even racing yet they are out training along with all the other athletes. We all share a common goal, we are all trying to get to that finish line on Saturday, some faster than others, but we are all reaching for that same line.

Everyone took different paths to get here. Some people train to get to Kona for years, others have been doing this race for years. Everyone's journey to get here is unique, some people have been fortunate to qualify there first time, others have missed it by seconds or minutes and have had to wait a whole year to try again. Some people repeat this process for years on end trying to get here, some people are realistic and realize they will never be fast enough to qualify so they attempt to get selected in the lottery year after year. Everyone has been on a journey to get to the start line on Saturday, here is a little bit about my journey from a training stand point.

As mentioned in Part 1, I spoke about the biggest changes I made this year. Getting a coach being the biggest change. With getting a coach came a structured plan, guidance, experience and knowledge. All of the things I needed to get to where I am. I use to just go out and bike, now I have a structured workout which at times has intensity at others just an easy spin. This is what most people know is what they need in their weekly schedule, the problem is they don't quite understand how each workout correlates to the other and how to properly structure a week, month, months of workouts. This is why I searched for a coach and chose to go with Team TBB Online Coaching and chose Scott Defilippis. Here is a look at what last years training looked like:

(Click image to enlarge) From 12/01/09-12/01/10, Total Hours Trained per week

So to most people the above image is a pretty heavy load of training. In actuality it is pretty light for training for a half IM in May and a Marathon in September. Below is a chart from this year, you have to remember this is what I DID, not what my coach TOLD me to do.

(Click image to enlarge) From 12/01/10-9/30/11, Total Hours Trained per week

As you can see this past year has been a lot bigger with the training load. The one thing that is not included on there is the amount of classes I was taking and how high our ops tempo(work load and prep to fly, fight and win against North Korea). So from October 2010 till October 2011 I took 6 college classes and still worked a FULL time job, believe it or not I actually do work for the Air Force and don't just train all the time ;) The hardest part of all of this was from Feb 15th- Mar 15th when I was taking 4 classes at once, that created 0 social life. You can see the weeks vary and the prep for Kona has not been as ideal as it was for Korea, but I am feeling stronger than before Korea and am feeling really fit right now. When your season goes as long as mine has been, people tend to face burnout. I came across this after IM Korea, as you can see, and it took a few weeks to bounce back. This was not the "plan" but this is just what happened.

Like I talked about a little bit in my last blog was the lifestyle. So as you can see above my life has pretty much consisted of work, training and school. I haven't really had time for much other of a social life. It has it draw backs to be training and that focused on something, but as you can tell I am now reaping the rewards for the "hard work". I am not in a place or in the right situation to be seeking out a relationship, Korea is a short tour and I know I will be leaving soon, so it is not ideal. Now by all means if the right girl comes around, then so be it, but I am not actively out there searching.

With the above chart from this year, here is what kind of mileage those hours produced:

Swim-148 miles/79 hours

Cyclilng- 6,054 miles/323 hours

Running-1,221 miles/155 hours

So that is what the past 10 months have looked like. They have been full of excitement, craziness, and a lot of good memories. You can call it hard training, structured workouts, and a lot of focus, but I look at it as just going out and having fun on a daily basis. Well for the most part at least, as with everything there are the bad days and good days, but for the most part if you go out for every session wanting to have fun, then it is FUN!

Here is a link that was posted on Team TBB's Website in regards to the AG Athletes racing in Kona: http://teamtbb.com/?option=com_content&task=view&id=1294

If you have any questions about my training I would be more than happy to answer them, as long as they aren't specific to my exact workouts, those are my coaches and if you want that information I am more than happy to put you in contact with him. Contact me via email at: airforcebadbrad@yahoo.com with questions or for my coaches information.

Thanks to my coach for taking and putting in a great effort to my training plan, it was by no means a cookie cutter plan. I doubt there are many others out there that have a schedule like me, or have to make changes here and there due to my crazy work schedule. Thanks again for everything you have done and all of the time you have put in to get me to where I am! Thanks to everyone else who follows this blog and my journey to Kona.

Quick Kona Update

2011-10-04T00:11:00.000-07:00

3 Oct 11-

Just some quick photos and notes from Kona, not a full out blog:

-Sunday Swim, ran into a guy I met at the Tri in San Jose. One of the 2 guys that beat me. We got in a swim together, and came across about 10-15 DOLPHINS! Pretty cool!

-Today got out for a long ride and came across Craig Alexandar and got to see the NEW SHIV in person. Pretty cool bike with some neat concepts. Craig was also a super nice guy and we chatted for a few minutes, wish him the best of luck this weekend!

-Moved into our condo today from the race hotel, absolutely AWESOME!

-Here are some pictures from the last few days

At the Lagoon in Ko Olina, Oahu getting an open water swim in

Leaving Oahu, headed to Kona

Out on the road for my Monday "long" ride

I guess that is what the locals refer to Triathletes as ;) jk jk....Guess they have Donkeys out there on the Queen K.

Faris chatting it up on Ali'i Drive.

My Path to Kona: Part 1

2011-09-30T03:53:00.000-07:00

30 Sep 11-

As I sit here and get ready to fly out of S. Korea over to Hawaii, I wanted to take a minute and start the blogs that will lead up to the Kona Pre Race Blog. A lot of people dream about getting to Kona and attempt year after year to get to the "Big Dance". I wouldn't say I "dreamed" about getting to Kona, until I made it a goal of mine. I walked into this sport a little over 3 years ago now not even knowing what an IRONMAN was or what the difference between a triathlon bike or road bike was. I came into the sport with no knowledge of anything and looked for guidance from many people. I couldn't tell you who Chrisse Wellington was or who Team TBB was. I couldn't even tell you how far a marathon was, but somehow 4 months later I was running one. I showed up to my first sprint tri and a guy showed up on a Felt DA (tri bike) with a disc wheel, deep front Zipp and an aero helmet. Me and my buddy were laughing at this guy wondering who the heck he thought he was. 10 months later I was rooming with this said guy at China 70.3, picking his brain on everything and he has become a great mentor. Step back and looking at myself I am a spitting image of that guy, and I am sure there whispers at the small on base tris when I show up with people saying the same thing.

The path that I took to get to Kona is unique in my opinion, as is everybody's. Some people are realistic and know what it takes to get to Kona, they lay out a plan that will work for THEM. Others don't have a clue what it takes and they think they "know" what they need to do. I have seen and read about these people and they wonder why year after year they don't reach their goal of getting to Hawaii. I by no means knew what it took to get to Kona, but I was surrounded by people that know what it takes. I was surrounded by mentors that have led me down the path to success. I used those resources to make sure that the goal I wanted to achieve was attainable and I laid out a plan to achieve that goal.

I am fortunate enough to be in Asia, which means IM China was not going to cost me a fortune to get to (IM China was my original plan of my first IM, until it was canceled). I then switched it up to IM Korea. When you have a goal that is thought to be the top of the sport, people will think you are crazy when you tell them on your first IM you are gunning for a Kona slot. If you pick the right race, in the right location, that suits you, anything is possible. To make things even better, the cancellation of IM China brought a total of 75 Kona slots to IM Korea, that is a very very BIG number. So that was step 1, choosing a race that suited me. Why did China and/or Korea suit me? The races are known to have small fields which mean a higher chance of qualifying. Some may call this cherry picking but when you are aiming for a goal that has so many variables in it, you take control of the things you can control, the race selection being one of them.

The other thing that had to be done, was I needed to hire a coach. There was no way I was going into my first IM with ambitions of qualifying for Kona and coaching myself. I lack the knowledge and experience in the sport to coach myself, and even the best coaches still need to be coached. I had been following Team TBB for quite sometime, well since China 70.3 in April of 2009. There had been talk that they would be doing online coaching and it was something that I kept my eye on. I frequented there forum regularly looking for all the "free" advice that I could and just taking it all in. When I made the decision to do the IM and they launched there online coaching I knew that is who I was going to put my trust in. There are a lot of people out there who go out and get a coach, just to have a coach. They don't do their homework, they don't know the history of the people and they just assume because they are a pro they are a good coach. Team TBB has a proven track record and I liked the coaching model that they laid out, where their online coaches had the capability to seek advice from their head coach if need be. The only way a coach/athlete relationship works is if you fully trust your coach and don't second guess his thought process and training plan. What is the point to pay for a coach and then not even believe in what he is providing you?

The last big thing that I did was get a powermeter. I got a wired SRM and really started focusing on power on the bike. It has been the second best investment I have made in triathlon other than my coach. Training by power is a great way to measure your fitness and track your progress. I use WKO+ and it is something that I have enjoyed studying and watching over the course of the season.

Lastly, the thing that is out of everyone's control is the athletes you are surrounded by. I say athletes, because you can't control the caliber of people you are surrounded by in terms of athletics, but you can control the other people you surround yourself with. Being on a military installation where a majority of the base is on a 1 year tour, it is completely out of my control. However, I have been very fortunate to have some great people to train with. They know who they are, they are the guys that road in the freezing cold weather or came over on Xmas and put in a 3 hour trainer ride or anyone who just put in time in the pool, on the bike or on the run with me. If you weren't there to hold me accountable I could of just blown off the workout, or I may not of been pushed as hard. It is because of the people in my life that have led me to where I am at today. It is not necessarily because of all the positive people, although they have a huge effect on it, the negative people are important as well. The people that question what you do or the goals you aim for, thinking you are just flat out crazy. Those are the people that push you to do better and reach higher each time.

I can't thank everyone that I have been surrounded by for the past 3 years and especially those that have been around these past couple of months leading into Kona. You have been a crucial part to my training environment and have pushed me to where I am today. And then as always if it wasn't for the great family members that I am surrounded by that continue to support me, I would not be on this plane to the big dance. The Love and support they have for me is incredible and I am not sure if they will ever know how appreciative I am of it, words can't describe what they have done and what they continue to do for me.

In Part 2 I plan on talking about the lifestyle I lived this past year and the financial obligation that an IM has on someone.

Not really sure what picture to put to this blog, but since it is about the Path to Kona, here is a look back from January 2010, probably around 170-175lbs........

Camp Humphreys Sprint Tri- AF Still on Top

2011-09-25T05:37:00.000-07:00

10 Sep 11-

Sorry this blog is so late, the Army news paper was suppose to do an article on the race but it never came about :(

Well since I have raced the Camp Humphreys race 3 times previously and was undefeated I wanted to make sure I showed up again to keep the winning streak for the Air Force. I missed the race in June due to being home on leave, but luckily my good friend David Temple was here to keep the streak at least with the Air Force. It is always fun to go to an Army base and take the title, so even with Kona on the horizon I asked coach to try and fit this in the schedule. The conversation normally goes something like "Coach I want to race this weekend." Coach- "Ummmm we need a big weekend of training and that doesn't really fit" Me- "Come on coach I like racing, I will do the race and then do whatever else afterwards.".......Then I get the schedule and it has no taper into it, I don't think I have ever been able to taper for a sprint, and then on top of the race there is normally another workout in the afternoon. So I always get a big training day in and get some good publicity for the Air Force.

We headed down to Humphreys with a big group from Osan, I think we had 15 people total. I was glad to be going down with a big group as we always have a good time down there. It is a well run race and they even have timing chips. They close the roads off to traffic and the course is typically accurate to the distance advertised, which is getting hard to find these days.

Swim- It was nice to get a good feel for where my swim fitness is, and a 400 meter all out swim was a good indication. I haven't been in the pool near as much as I should of been, but I was pleased with how the swim went. I was first out of the water in the first wave, but we did not all start at the same time. It was 16 people and they started down lane to lane one right after the other with about 5 seconds in between each lane. They didn't want the timing system to get messed up. Time-5:50(1:27per/100m)

Bike- The transition was smooth from the pool to the bike and as I was headed out the second guy out of the water was just coming out of the pool. I really just wanted to focus on my power and try and get into the 300's, since it was only 20K. There was a weird wind and it seemed like we were always riding into it and never had a tail wind, even though it was an out and back. Lap 1 I split 15:04, with 283Watts. Lap 2 I split 14:48, with 280Watts, ahh the numbers and how they are confusing. And then the course was a half mile long so I had a "3rd Lap"(I had my garmin set to auto lap each 10K) of 1:24. Time-31:18 (24.7mph/avg-281Watts,Norm Power-289)

Run- This is what I was really excited about. I have had quite a few brick workouts this year and my legs are really starting to run well off the bike. They come to me really quick and there isn't a lot of adjustment time like I use to have, it use to take a mile or two before the really started feeling like running legs. The course has some small rolling hills on it but it is pretty fast in my opinion. I hit the first mile in 5:48, then 5:57, then closed with a 5:48. I was really happy with my run, but it was .08 short, so just under the 5K, but I guess that makes up for the "long" bike ;) Time-17:40 (5:51min/mile avg)

Overall Time-56:01/1st Place Age Group/1st Place Overall

I was really pleased with the race and how it went. A good friend of mine Aaron tried to stack a relay team to beat me, as I was being a little cocky and told him I had never lost the overall race, even to a team. So we made a bet of some beer and wine and he showed up with a team. Come to find out after the race, I didn't know what there team name was till they showed me the results, it was "BEAT BRAD WILLIAMS", but somehow the results showed "BEAT READ WILLIAMS", my name gets butchered more and more, IM Korea Kona Qualifying list, IM 70.3 Germany Medical Form, who knows what it will be in Kona. Anyways Aarons team is the closest that anyone has come to beating me and was withing 2 minutes, it was nice to drink some beers on him that Saturday night ;)

Thanks again for all the support, Kona is 13 days out and I fly out in 5, can't wait to get there and be surrounded by the worlds best triathletes!

Here are some pics from the race:

Coming out of the pool

The bike all setup in T1

The homestretch and yes I am a heel striker ;)

The Finish line, with wave starts you never know if you actually won or not. However I was the first across the line.

The Osan Mulitsport Athletes cleaned house on awards!

DMZ Half Marathon/1 Year in Korea

2011-09-11T02:54:00.000-07:00

4 September 2011-

Well this weekend marked 3 days over 1 year in Korea. I actually raced this race last year, but it was on the 12th of September. With it being 6 weeks out from Kona I was looking for a half IM but there were none in Korea. So I talked it over with my coach and he thought a half marathon would be a good race. I was looking to PR for the half marathon, since I knew the course and it was flat and super fast.

I headed up to Seoul the day prior to hang out with some guys from the cycling team and attend a BBQ put on my our team owner. It was a great time to hang out and get out of Osan and away from all the military people. We hung out at the Hamilton hotel and enjoyed some pool side eye candy. It was nice to just relax talk cycling and enjoy a few beers prior to the race. After the pool we met up with Norah and Elmer and grabbed some dinner. They were kind enough to put me up for the night so that I could catch the bus up in Seoul instead of all the way down at Osan. Made the trip up to the race a bit shorter.

I had very little sleep as I stayed up late into the night BS'ing with Elmer and Norah as I hadn't seen them in awhile. Always good to catch up with fellow athletes and teammates. Luckily the 2 hour bus ride left for plenty of time to sleep. The weather was great, a little overcast and cool in the morning. The wind was blowing but was hoping it would die off.

The race started the wind stayed the clouds parted and off we went. There was a head wind/cross wind for probably the first 11K of the 21K. I made the mistake of starting the race an my Garmin was not synced up with the satelittes, so for the first 1/2 mile I had no GPS. It also threw off my mile splits for the whole race, but at least I was getting splits and was able to monitor my pace after the first half mile.

I was a little worried as a big group went out hard and I lost ground on them through the first half of the race. My pace was not where I wanted it to be, but the head wind was pretty strong so I knew that was the cause. I just focused on keeping a steady pace and once I caught the tailwind I was going to drop the pace down and hopefully make up some ground on the group that went out hard. My coach has been having me progressively run harder in some of my workouts and that is how he wanted me to race. It is hard to hold back but I am slowly learning how to let it rip the last portions of races and my legs are really learning how to go into the hurt locker.

With 12K to go Elmer came up from behind on a bike and asked how I was doing. I told him I felt good and asked if he could go up the road to find out where I was placing wise. They paid out top 10 so I was gunning to get into the money and top 10. He informed me I was in 15th at the time, so I just kept at it and slowly kept picking guys off. With a mile to go I had 2 guys in my sights and I kept pushing harder and harder trying to catch them. With 200 meters to go I had a guy with in striking distance, an older guy to say the least. I am normally pretty solid when it comes down to out kicking someone. I really let the legs go and just could not catch this guy, he literally ran away from me and I was giving it all I had. This is the hardest that I have ever ran at the end of a race and I felt like I was red lined and could of passed out at any moment. It was a crazy but amazing feeling to know that you can really push your body to the limits and I think I was on the verge of that limit.

All in all it was a great race. I missed PR'ing by 27 seconds, but the conditions were a little worse this year. I managed to take 12th place, which was 1 place better than last year. There is one thing that a lot of people don't understand, there are a lot of things in racing that you can't control. You can't control who shows up and you can't control the weather. Those 2 things can have a huge impact on every race and where you place. The one thing that YOU can control is the effort that you give prior to the race and at the race. If you give it 100% and you take dead last then you gave it your best, if you give it 100% and you win the race then you still gave it your best. Just go out there, give it 100% and whatever the outcome is that is what it is.

Time: 1:19:21
Place: 12th/1157

Thanks again for all of the support! I can't thank all of my family, friends and supporters. Also a big thanks to Elmer and Norah for giving me a place to stay the night before the race.

The Seoul Flyers Running Group! A fast group none the less!

The closing stretch!

A little post race recovery trying to get those white legs a little sun.

Ever Raced in the East Sea? I HAVE :) :)

2011-08-18T04:54:00.000-07:00

12-14 August-

I will forewarn you that this will be one of my longer blogs. If you want the short version here it is: I drove 4 hours, got on a ferry for 3 hours, checked in, woke up, raced, ate lunch, took another ferry for 2 hours, swam 800m total going to and from both Dokdo islands, took a ferry 2 hours back, awards, beers, slept, rode for 3 hours, relaxed, took another ferry back for 3 hours, got stuck in traffic for 6 hours, got home at 330am, went to work...............Now for the long version, if you care, I will say this is one of the coolest things I have been able to do.

And if that wasn't short enough here are the 2 media releases so far. There is suppose to be a documentary coming out in September of the weekend.

Video in English (starts at 2:30)
News Article in Korean

Thursday afternoon I headed out for a short training ride here in Osan, easy 1h30m then back for a short run. Right before coming back on base some guy flung his door open in front of me and I went over the bars. Got a little banged up but nothing was broken and the BIKE was fine :) So I still got in my run and then packed up for the weekend adventure.

Friday was an early wake up of 0430 so I could meet up with my Korean friends and we could make the 4 hour drive out to the east coast. Once there we got on the ferry for 3 hours and headed out to Ulleung Island. The ferry was just a passenger ferry and was setup like an aireliner. The water was pretty smooth on the way out there and I caught a little bit of sleep. Once we arrived to the island it was race check in and getting our bikes to transition area. It was a point to point swim, so T1 was in a different place than swim start. I wanted to get in a pre ride but they were wanting to transport our bikes to transition area, it took me a little while but I convinced them I would get my bike there. So I got checked into the hotel, put on bike kit and headed out to pre ride the course. The roads were HORRIBLE, my one big complaint of the weekend. But how can you complain when you are on an island in the middle of the East Sea and the view is gorgeous. The ride was good, got the bike to T1 and then headed to the race briefing.

I had a friend of a friend that came on the trip as the foreign assistant, but his translating skills were not all that great, or in his defense my Korean is about as good as his English. So I heard a girl speaking a bit of English on the boat and went and sat with her and her family at the race briefing. We got to chatting and she actually lives in NY but her parents live in Seoul. She was out here visiting and her mom signed the both of them up for their first tri. Pretty cool place to do a first tri, but a damn tough one for a first one. She helped me out quite a bit with translating for the race briefing. This is where the interviews started and were pretty much continuous throughout the whole weekend. Being one of two foreigners there, they took a lot of footage of me and asked a lot of questions. It was kind of interesting, and to say the least I am glad I am just a normal guy at all the big races, because I need some work on my interview/speaking skills.

Waking up bright and early Saturday morning for the race was no problem. Got down to the race start and sure enough more cameras, more questions. Asking about the competition was kind of interesting, I knew who the 2 pros were that were there and was already told they were going to be my competition. It was kind of cool to be included in the "pro wave", although there were only 4 of us, to be held in that regard is an honor. I knew the ITU guy was going to take it ot me on the swim and the only way I had a shot at beating him was if he flatted or had a mechanical. It is hard to go into a race knowing that but when you know your competition it is easy to figure out a strategy. So knowing what I knew here is how the race went:

Swim 2K- Well that sucks when you are swimming against an ITU guy and the swim is longer than the typical Olympic distance. I bet he would but 6 minutes into me on the swim. Sure enough after the race the splits came out and he put 6m27s into me. We all know that I am not a great swimmer by any means, well if you didn't now you do. But I was second out of the water, and had 2 minutes on third. Kind of a crappy transition as it was confusing and I got to my bike then they directed me back to a mat. No big deal took my time and made sure I had everything.

Bike 40K- Here is where I thought I could make up sometime on the pro and possibly give myself a shot at putting some doubt into him. Well the roads were bumpy, the scenery was beautiful. I took some splits on course and I was slowly gaining on him. At mile 15 my Garmin popped off from the bumpy roads and I had to stop. I would assume this cost me 1m30s. Slowing down, turning around, picking it up, getting back up to speed. At that point I knew I just need to keep riding strong and stay out of trouble and not crash or flat. There were some sections of dirt and rocks and some through tunnels so I took it easy there and just kept it upright. Had a good transition to the run and off I went.

Run- The first 8K was a 4 out and 4 back. Then the fun begin and it went up 800m then down 1.2K to the finish. At the 4K turn around I was able to get a split and he was up on me by 5m30s. Hmmmm what could possibly happen for me to catch this guy? He would have to get cramps and not make it up the beat of a hill. I kept running hard and got to the hill. Then reality set in and there was no way I was catching him and this hill was a beast, I had a big gap on 3rd so just settled in and power walked up the hill. It averaged 9.5% incline and was brutal! The downhill to the finish was nice and fast but then you get to the finish area and have to go up some stairs into a high school track. Luckily no one was around to make a sprint finish with because up those steps would of been crazy, but the last 200m was on a track with a small seating area. There were quite a few people in there and when I was heading for the finish line my translator friend (the friend of the friend, Soon Kim) told me to jump over the banner/ribbon. It actually turned into a pretty cool picture.

Swim 2K- 29:17
Bike 40K- 1:09:13 (Included T1 and T2) Garmin had the bike at 1:03:48
Run 10K- 44:12
Overall: 2:26:21-2nd Overall/112 starters/92 finishers
Gap between 1st-me=8mins36secs Me-3rd=14mins59secs

Overall I was extremely pleased with my results. Some may have read earlier that there was suppose to be prize money but due to the lack of participation in our "elite" wave they pulled 2nd and 3rd place money. I wrote a post on SlowTwitch about this . What it comes down to is in reality I am not fast enough to be earning a $2,000 pay check for that performance. They advertised the money and did not pay out, but at least they said something Friday night and not after the race. I can't complain as they paid for everything and I was taken care of while I was on this trip.

So after the race on Saturday we had about 3 hours before the next adventure began. We headed out on another ferry ride for 2 hours to an island called Dokdo. These places were so special to the Korean's and I felt very honored to be able to go to both Ulleung and Dokdo . We were suppose to swim 2K around Dokdo but the water was really rough so we swam between the two "rocks" in the middle of the ocean. The water is absolutely beautiful in both Ulleung and Dokdo, clear and you can see the bottom most of the way. We only got to swim about 800m but it was really cool and a once in a lifetime experience. I told some of my Korean friends back here at Osan about the weekend adventure and they were all in shock that I had went there. Many Koreans never have the opportunity to visit either of these places so I feel really lucky for this opportunity.

Saturday night was the awards ceremony and there was a big stage set up down in the harbor and they put on a short performance. It was really cool and sat around afterwards and had a few beers and just enjoyed the night. Don't be fooled though, not to much beer as coach wanted me to "see some more of the island" via a bike ride in the morning. Up bright and early Sunday morning to get in some time on the bike. There was some really good climbs so I headed out with Tom, the other foreigner and we explored the island. It was a good time and road some really rough but great climbs. The rest of Sunday we just hung out and relaxed and caught a ferry back Sunday afternoon.

The journey back home was not a fun one at all. The ferry ride was very rough and a lot of people were getting sea sick. My stomach was not happy but I was able to hold it all in. We got back to main land about 9pm and headed for home, it took 6 hours to get back due to traffic. By the time I got to bed it was 0330 and I had to be up at 0530 for work. To say the least Monday was not a fun day at work. But the adventure of this weekend made it all worth it!

I just want to say thanks to everyone for all the continued support and for following along on this journey!

THANK YOU!

Here is a link to the Photo Album on Facebook from this weekend as I have a lot of cool photos. But below are a few of my favorite:

The Map

Where we had lunch on Saturday, this guy wasn't to sure about taking a photo with me but the tree was pretty cool how it went through the restaurant.

Eveyln and myself. She won her AG in her first tri ;) And she has even said she is going to train harder to beat me next time. She was pretty close to me on the swim........

The top of one of the climbs on Sunday!!

Jumping across the finish line, this white boy still has hops ;)

First Big Win :)

2011-07-31T09:33:00.000-07:00

17 July 2011- Seolobong Olympic Distance Tri

Exactly 14 days after IM Korea there was a local Korean Tri. I figured it would be a good way to get going again and keep me motivated right after the IM. Well my body/mind didn't quite agree with the keep on going and staying motivated. I believe all of the travel and then having to come back to reality of working made the adjustment hard. It was nice to be home and just eat, train, sleep and repeat. So coming back from IM Korea I was un motivated and just did a little here and a little there. I wasn't keeping up with all the workouts that my coach had planned, but when I did the workouts I felt good. It is now 4 weeks later and I am still struggling to get it together, but I wake up every morning believing that today will be the day that it all comes together. I went out last night and drank way too much and slept most of today away. I think it is safe to say that going out every now and again is a good thing, it reminds me why I don't do it as often like when I was here before. I accomplished absolutely nothing today and that is never a good feeling. But I promise tomorrow will be the day that I get my ass in gear, because believe it or not Kona is 68 days away :) Alright so that was the long part of the blog here is the short and sweet part about the race.

Swim-
It was a 2 loop swim course and I got a good start. Couldn't really find any feet for some reason, but I guess that is what happens when you are in the top 3 of the swim and the other guys out swim you by 2 minutes, I was more less in no mans land. I swam a pretty disappointing 25:18, but who knows maybe the course was long.

Bike-
Wasn't really sure how the legs were going to feel, I think I only biked 2 or 3 times since IM Korea. I went out and tried to find a rhythm, but took a wrong turn about 3 miles into the ride, lost some ground and had two guys pass me as I was getting back on course. I made up some ground and started feeling good on the second loop and about half way through it I took the lead. I negative split the bike in terms of power with 238 for the first 30mins and 268 for the remaining 33 mins. My official split was 1:05:20, and that included T1.

Run-
The first time I have actually had a lead biker. Pretty cool to say the least. Only problem was this run course was no joke, I think the guy on the bike even struggled. It was 4 loops and was HILLY. I had a method for the one big hill though, I power walked it and on the last lap I was passing some of the pro women, they had a 10 or 15 minute head start on us during the swim. I tried to convince them to power walk with me as they were in a running motion but not moving at running speed. They just looked at me like I was a crazy foreigner, but hey my power walk put me on top of the podium, so no way they could knock it ;) Run time was pretty disappointing, but what can you expect 2 weeks after an IM and some crazy hill every lap. 43:44 was the time and it was 3rd fastest on the day with the fastest run split being a 40:27.

Swim-25:18 3rd Overall
Bike(T1 Included)-1:05:20 3rd Overall
Run(T2 Included)-43:44 3rd Overall
Total-2:14:21 1st Overall out of 262/1st Place AG

Overall I was really happy to get a big win in a race with over 100 people. I ended up winning 14Kg of rice, 10Kg for winning and 4Kg for talking about the race. Yeah I forgot about that I had to give my first speech, well they had the 4 foreigners that were there come on stage and talk about the race for a bag of rice. Lastly I would like to say THANK YOU to the Corbin family for giving me a ride to the race and cheering for me as well. Since I don't really cook I gave them my 14Kg of rice, I don't think they will be needing to buy rice for awhile. They also got 4Kg so in total we walked out with 18Kg of rice.

Here are some pictures from the race as well as the run course elevation chart.

Coming in from the second loop.

Out on the run suffering!

On stage with the big bag of rice

Click to see a more in depth view with HR and pace.

IM Korea Race Report-KONA BOUND!

2011-07-06T04:56:00.000-07:00

6 July 2011-

It really hasn't quite set in what happened on Sunday. I would like to say it was the toughest thing I have ever done but quite honestly it was just a long training day. The thing about IM is it is just a constant grind at the same "slow" pace. But first off, I just want to say THANK YOU to everyone that was following along on race day. Luckily my buddy John was there to update Facebook via twitter as I had a feeling that IM Live was going to be crap. So a BIG thanks to John for keeping everyone updated and for all the support during and after the race.

If you would like a more technical and "tri geek" race report check this one out on Slowtwitch: http://forum.slowtwitch.com/gforum.cgi?post=3420518;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread

The day started out just like every other race day, except a lot earlier. I woke up at 0345 and ate the normal breakfast of 2 instant packs of Oatmeal, 1 Banana, and then a new addition of a thin sliced whole grain bagel. I went to bed having the race day business looming, but I was able to hold it off and actually woke up and took care of business first thing in the morning. Always a good sign when you have a long day ahead of you.

We left the hotel early and got to transition area right around 0510. Started off by dropping off the special need bags and body marking was right there as well. After that it was off to find a bathroom, well the line was ridiculous but we found a bathroom in the coffee shop. They weren't letting athletes use the bathroom though, so we sat down bought a coffee and then I slipped into the hallway where the bathroom was when they weren't looking. Taking care of business was accomplished twice before the race so I felt confident in being good for the whole race. After coffee I headed over to transition area and got everything setup. Then I had some time to just relax before race start. The race jitters were there but I wasn't feeling too bad.

Myself and David Temple, a good friend and training partner here at Osan!

Swim- I just hung out on the beach and didn't get a warmup in. I knew the swim was a long 2.4 miles so figured I would slowly get into my rythym. Well the swim start was pretty brutal, I got kicked, punched, tugged, but luckily after 500 meters of the washing machine effect it all cleared up. I found some feet to draft off of and then found some clean water to swim in. I felt comfortable on the whole swim other than bumping into the rope and buoys a few times, which is equivelant to getting punched. I came out of the first loop grabbed some water and headed back in. I didn't get a time split which I didn't mind as I figured I was on pace. Second loop was un eventful, couldn't find anyone to draft off of and just swam on my own. Overall I felt good about my swim, but even when coming out of the water I still hadn't got a split. So up the beach and in to T1 I went.

The "washing machine" of a swim start!

T1- I had no problem finding my bag on the rack and I was right into the changing tent. No wetsuit strippers were available which kind of sucked but I managed to get it of quite quickly. Got on the helmet and off I was out to the bike. Luckily John was outside of the transition area next to my bike and told me I swam around 57 minutes. First words out of my mouth were "That had to be short"(the course). Had a good exit out of the transition and off I went on the bike.

Headed out on the bike

Bike- I went out and had a plan to take the first hour easy. This was a big mental thing that I had to accept as quite a few people went fyling by me for the first hour. I waited about 30 minutes until I started taking in my calories in. Once I started eating all was good and my stomach was happy to have some food. I stayed on top of my nutrition and continued to monitor my power meter to make sure I was not pushing too hard. By the half way point I was slowly passing all of those people that went flying by me. The bike was pretty un eventful for the most part, I just concentrated on eating and hydrating. By the 150K point we had a line of about 15 guys that were riding legal for the most part, although it was hard as some guys would sit up and then the group would bunch up. Then a climb or two would come and the group would come together up the climb. But other than that I would say the bike course was pretty clean and they actually handed out a handful of penalties which was a suprise to me but I was happy to see it happen as Korea is known for it drafting with no penalties.

Cruising along the coast, beautiful bike course!

T2- John was there and told me I was holding my own and was in the top 6. I knew there was a guy who was a beast on the bike and I asked John where he was and he was 35 minutes up on me. Luckily I was prepared to know he was going to crush the bike and was just hoping I could have a good run and he would have a bad one. Unfortunatley he just crushed the whole course and had a great day, more to come on that later. Our "group" that came into T2 had some problems getting off their bikes and I was about 6 back and watched 3 guys pile up and fall of their bikes, pretty comical to say the least. I took my time getting off the bike, I was already off to one side to do a flying dismount but there wasn't enough bike catchers so I had to wait a few seconds to pass my bike off. Then I was into my run shoes and off I went.

Run- I knew with it being pretty hot and humid my run pace was going to have to adjust. After about the first mile I was aggrivated with my Garmin telling me to speed up, so I turned off the pace alert. I just kept my head in the game watched my nutrition and pushed on, just at a slower pace than planned. The first lap went pretty smooth and I didn't walk much, other than the waterstops. On the start of the second lap the first hill really took it out of me. The sun had just come out and it got HOT, I felt my body temp rising and was in a world of hurt. It was 2K till the next water stop and a majority of it was uphill. A guy that was in our group on the bike came by me and got me going with him. The good thing was it got me to the water stop quicker the bad thing was it was just out right painful. I got to the water stop drank some pepsi and just drenched myself in cold water. Then at that point the 2nd place female pro passed me, Maki who is on Team TBB and is from Japan. I had met her in Singapore and she remembered me from there. We ran together for about 4 or 5 miles, until the last turn around which was about 10K till the finish. I broke down again and started walking and she just kept on trucking on. I got to the turn around after walking about 1/2 mile and got drenched with cold water again drank some pepsi and took in some calories. Some other guys from our ride came along and got me back to running. We ran the last 9K together and up the last hill they continued on and I slowed back to a walk. I had mentally checked out as I did some math an my Garmin said 25 miles and the time of day was 1657, meaning I was not going to break 10. I glanced back around the same time and realized a guy in my AG was coming. I was not sure if he was on his first lap or second so I started running again, well it was more like a trot. I came down the last hill and there was John, Brett and Madden. Brett is my friend from Japan and Madden is his son, they handed me the US Flag and I rounded the last corner. I got to see the 2 guys that I had ran the last 9K with cross the line in what looked like sub 10. The one guy crossed it in 9:59:59, but the official time ended up being 10:00:02, I felt pretty bad for him as he was pushing it hard at the end. At least his finishing picture will show sub 10 ;) As for me I crossed the line at 10:00:31 officially and couldn't of been happier, my first IM was complete!

I look tiny next to that statue!

I had the American flag flying behind me until the last 10 meters and I haven't found a photo of it yet :( This one still turned out good! PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!

Run Stats:

Splits: Placings with just Amatuers
Swim-58:35-39th Overall/7th AG
Bike-5:15:57-29th Overall/5th AG
Run- 3:40:54-41st Overall/8th AG
Total: 10:00:31* Kona Qualified :)
AG-4th/35(finishers)44(starters)- The top3 in my AG M25-29 were also in the Top 10 Overall including Pros, the Amateur winner was in my AG. I would say our AG was quite stacked, well those first 3 guys ;)!
19th Overall Amateur out of 806 Starters
27th Overall Including Pros
(The results did not have T1/T2 times in them and athlete tracker was not working)
Finish Picture:

And that is the Golden Ticket to Kona :)!!!!!

Gear:
Wetsuit- 2008 Zoot Zenith
Kit- Kiwami Konami (AWESOME!)
Shoes- Zoot TT 4.0
Glasses- Oakley Jawbones
GPS: Forerunner 305

Nutrition:
Pre Meal- 1 Banana, 2 packets of Quaker Instant Oatmeal (Apple Cinnamon), 1 Thin Sliced Whole Grain Bagel, 1 Cup of Coffee.
Swim- 1 cup of water after first loop
Bike- 2 Concentrated Bottles (1 at start/1 at special needs which was frozen night before) of 4 scoops Perpetum+5oz of EFS Liquid Shot+1 Hammer Gel, 1 packets of Honey Stinger Organic Chews, 2 packs of Clif Blocks, Approx 5 sport bottles of Gatorade, Approx 2 bottles of water. Total Calories: Approx-2800
Run- 2 Gel Flask of 3oz EFS Liquid Shot+2 Hammer Gel, ½ bottle of Coke at Special Needs, Aprrox 12 small cups of Pepsi, Approx 6 small cups of Gatorade, Approx 12 cups of water, and 20 Gallons of Ice cold water poured over head/body!

I can't THANK everyone enough for all the support that was sent my way during and after the race. Truly amazing to have such awesome family and friends in my life. I am looking forward to the journey to Kona as it is only 95 days away. I look forward to sharing some stories along the way with everyone and hoping to just inspire 1 person at a time to begin a healthy lifestyle. THANKS AGAIN!

If you remember my medical form in Germany I was "Bread" and now I am "Bard" hmmmm....Wonder what I will be in Kona B-Rad?

Some huge crabs in Emart!The view from the hotel room...

Recovering the day after the race with some great food and friends, and of course BEER!
World Cup Stadium on Jeju Island!

IM Korea Pre Race

2011-07-02T05:16:00.000-07:00

2 July 2011-

Well the big day is just a wake up away, that is if I fall asleep. I am pretty tired so I should fall asleep no problem. WOW it is really hard to believe that tomorrow is the big day, it seems like just yesterday I started this journey...........

It has been a long journey that has been filled with ups and downs, definitely more ups. I can't thank everyone enough that has supported me throughout it. I appreciate everyone that has followed the blog, FB, and now TWITTER. As I mentioned in my last blog my buddy John is down here, he rode with us in the TDK. He will be helping me out on course with some splits and will also be keeping everyone around the world up to date with how the race is going. Those of you that follow IM Live and the Athlete Tracker know it is hit or miss, so I figured since he had a smart phone we would throw some "tweets" out there and link it up via FB. So that is the cool thing that will be happening tomorrow is no matter how bad or good the IM coverage is you will still have some updates from John.

I have been racing for a purpose over the last couple races and it really makes these races mean a lot more. I feel like racing for someone/something else makes the race special, and being out there for a purpose gives me a reason to push hard. I have decided to race this IM in honor of a former teacher Carolyn Searway. She was diagnosed, in January-2011, with duodenal cancer. This has hit home and I often pray for her and her family. They are a family of 5, Mike who is the same age as me, Robby who is a year younger than Bryan (my brother), and Katie who is going into the 8th grade and then her husband Ben. They are very similar to my family in that we are all close in age. I cannot understand at times why God does the things that he does, but I continue to pray for strength for their family and for Carolyn. She is making progress and I was fortunate to visit with her while I was home on leave. I hope to go out there and race hard for her and her family. I ask that anyone that would pray for me on race day would channel your prayers to her and her family. IM is tough, but it cannot compare to the battle with cancer. Please take a minute to look at the website that has been setup and if you can please take a minute to pray for her and her family.

http://www.prayforcarolyn.com/ and http://www.facebook.com/msearway

The race starts at 7am(GMT+9) tomorrow morning, which will be 3pm California time. It will all begin with a 2.4 mile swim/112 mile bike/26.2 mile run. So I figure I will throw some guesstimates out there of how the day could play out. If it gets hot, windy, rainy, cold or any abnormal weather things can go off plan. It is a long day anything can happen but here are some goal/rough estimates.

Swim- 1:05-1:15
Bike- 4:55-5:25
Run- 3:10-3:30

I also have some other goals listed in order of importance:

1. HAVE FUN!
2. FINISH
3. Sub 12 Hours
4. Sub 10 Hours
5. KONA!!

Yes those goals are pretty aggressive when you get towards the bottom. I believe that I have put in the work and have made some sacrifices to accomplish those goals. It will take a good day and executing the race plan, but anything can happen as it is a long day.

I had a funny conversation with my Mom when I was home. It was before the tri at home and she asked me if I was going to WIN my AG at that race. I looked at her and told her that I was in the best shape of my life and I was going to lay it all out there, and if that was good enough to win than I would win. But there are things you cannot control, I cannot control who is going to show up and I cannot control the course or weather. Everyone will have to battle the conditions, but if 4 other guys show up and they are just out right faster than me well then the beat me to the line. So I will go out there and control what I can control and whatever happens happens. I know where I am, I know what I have put in and tomorrow is just another day of proving to myself where I am.

Here is the information for following the race for tomorrow:

www.ironman.com or www.ironmanlive.com should have an "athlete tracker" up. As of right now it is not up. My bid number is 38.

Like mentioned above John will be updating Twitter so checkout: www.twitter.com/afbadbrad and those tweets will also be going over to my FB account.

Thanks again for all of the support and look forward to making everyone proud tomorrow!

The Road to my First IM..........Part 3

2011-07-01T18:07:00.000-07:00

2 July 2011-

As I sit here in the hotel the day before my first IM I figured I better finish up this series that I started. If this is the first post that you have stumbled across check out Part 1 and Part 2 first. It has been interesting to reflect back on things and I have really enjoyed thinking about everything and looking back through some old photos. So here we go on the final portion of this............

I departed Turkey the end of August and found myself back in South Korea. I was pretty happy with this move as I was familiar with Korea and knew that the racing scene was a lot better than Turkey. Luckily I had already been here before and knew my way around logistically and already had some in's into the local tri scene. I would say I hit the ground running as in the first 9 weeks there I raced 8 of those weekend. It was not the brightest idea on my part as I had the big marathon coming up, but I raced some of the races a little smarter than the others and in the end it all worked out. Could the marathon of went better? Who knows, but I sure enjoyed the journey that took me up to that race.

I went into the marathon wanting to break 3 hours. That was the big goal of last year was running a sub-3 marathon. I had some great indicators going into the race with a 1:18:55 half marathon and then averaging 2:48 for 10X800's, AKA the "Yasso 800's". Well I am not sure if it was all of the racing or the tough course, but I didn't quite hit the low 2:50's that I was aiming for but still managed the sub-3, so the big goal from 2010 was completed. Where do you go from there? It was a late season marathon so I took about 2 weeks off and then the real journey began.

During the Chuncheon Marathon!

Yes, believe it or not I have been training for my first IRONMAN since beginning of December. I made the plunge and went full board ahead into this big race. I started out by seeking out a coach, and ended up going with Team TBB Online Coaching, and went with Scott DeFilippis. Having a coach has been awesome, it is great to have someone to hold you accountable and watch your training. I have been around for a short 3 years, so I have a brief idea of "what to do", but going into my first IM I didn't want any excuses. We have really made some great progress with my swim and bike, and well my run has stayed the same but has become really good off the bike. It has been awesome to have structured plan that every workout has a purpose and everything builds into something bigger. I use to just go out and swim, bike and run without much focus, other than my run workouts. Now everything has been very structured and it has made things really focused and with a purpose. I also purchased an SRM (power meter for the bike), and that has also been a great training tool that has helped my cycling fitness and power.

So this year I have cut back on the racing and stayed focused on IM China, well now IM Korea. I had some great adventures along the way, traveling to Singapore, around Korea for a few races and then of course the Tour de Korea. The TDK was probably the highlight of the year thus far, but all of that could change tomorrow.

Suffering in the brutal humidity of Singapore.......Team Storck/Rapha during the TDK.........

These last 10 months have been an amazing journey and there have been some great friends that I have met along the way.

Zach/Aaron- Thanks for always coming out and riding even on some of the craziest days. You guys have been a key reason why my cycling fitness has taken off. Can't thank you enough for all you guys have done for me and helped me progress as an athlete.

Dave- Meeting you within the first 48 hours on base was awesome! Can't say I have ever met another triathlete so quick on a new base. Best of luck to you tomorrow!

Des- Once again we cross paths and you are always around to help out with the little logistical ins and odds throughout Korea. Thanks again for all of the help you have provided me along this journey.

Team Storck/Rapha- Pablo, Jeremy, and all the guys on the team, thanks for the opportunity to ride the TDK with you guys. I know it was probably a headache having a triathlete on the team, but man was the TDK a blast. Can't wait till next year, it is going to be a blast!

Traci- Life is not complete without a swimming partner, hahaha......Actually I think that is true because once you got deployed going to the pool really sucked. It was always good to continously get my butt kicked by you and have some great swim sets! Thanks for all your help, I would say you are one of the reasons I am slowly becoming a "swimmer".

John- The TDK was a blast and having someone like you to mentor me through the process was great. Thanks for coming down here to Jeju to help me out. Makes a huge difference to actually have someone here supporting.(John came down from Seoul to hang out and "vacation", he is going to hopefully be able to give me some splits along the course and be able to tell me to HTFU and push it when the going gets tough.)

Pyeongtaek Tri Club- Once again you guys have been a huge help. I don't know to many people that will load up a foreigner and give them a lift all the way back to base from down in far south korea. You guys are truly amazing and some great people. Best of luck to those of you that are racing this weekend, Mr. Yu go and get your VEGAS SLOT!

Work/Chain of Command- It is always great to have the support of the higher ups. They have given me the opportunity and supported me with my racing. Without their support I would not have been able to take part in the TDK or receive PTDY for this race. Thanks for supporting me in my athletic endeavors.

Family- As the journey along this crazy lifestyle that I live continues, tomorrow is a big day. I thank each and every one of you, without you I don't know if I would be where I am today. THANK!

Bryan, Steve, Maddy, Mom and Me a few weeks ago at the Silicon Valley Race.Brenda, me and Dad at the Silicon Valley Race

The Road to my First IM..........Part 2

2011-06-29T01:59:00.000-07:00

29 June 2011-

If you didn't read PART 1, here is the link: PART 1 LINK

As I sit here already packed 3 hours early for the departure back to Korea I figured I could knock out Part 2 of the 3 possibly 4 part series. So lets see, I left off with China 70.3 and leaving Korea. Seems like that was forever ago and in reality it was just 2 years ago, guess that is quite awhile.

So in transit from Korea to Turkey I had planned to come home and race some race called "Wildflower". I had heard so many great things about it I figured I should throw it on the schedule and go experience what everyone was talking about. OC had left Korea a few months before me and was out in Idaho. He made the trip over and we headed to WF to experience it the "right way", I say this because all first timers to this race should have to camp, but some people get RV's and live the "rich and famous" lifestyle while most people just camp. During this experience, which is by far one of the greatest races around the world, I met some great new friends. I had previously met someone in China just a few short weeks before the race and she was going to be there at Wildflower. We all camped together and I met one of her really good friends Amy. Amy has ended up attending WF the past 3 years now and has become a great family friend. The great thing about triathlon is all the great people that you meet along the way. So Wildflower was awesome and then off I went to Turkey.

WF #1, camping and this is OC crashing out in the camp site.....With aero helmet and all!

I had done a lot of research before getting to Turkey, and to my dislike there was not much of a racing scene. There were a few races on base here and there, and then I managed to find one triathlon about 7 hours away from base. I started up a local Time Trial series while there and we had a small group of riders and it was always a good time. I had 2 friends, who I became good friends with over my time in Turkey and we primarily trained together just running. So I was left out on the bike and the swim on my own. With the small amount of racing in Turkey, I managed to get into IM 70.3 Germany even though it was sold out. It was a great opportunity to travel up to Germany and stay with a previous friend from Korea. Shauna opened up her house and was my first official "home stay", her and Lucy were super excited for the race and were a huge help. It ended up being quite the journey as this is when I broke my radius in my right arm and Shauna had to play Dr. post race. This is when you know you have great friends, not only do they open up there home they take care of you when you get injured and then end up being high on percocet (Dr. prescribed of course). I would of been SOL if I was there in Germany all on my own, so I owe a huge thanks to Shauna and Lucy for taking care of me.

Leaving the race site I was able to grab a sign, definitely a race I will never forget! Thanks Shauna for taking care of me, O the memories of Germany!

After arriving back from Germany an advertisement popped up on the base website saying that USAFEurope was looking for runners for the AF Marathon and it was a paid trip back to Ohio. How could I pass up an opportunity like this? Well being young and dumb, marathon 4 weeks out, broken right radius, sure why not lets apply and see what happens........I go in way under trained but luckily had some early season miles in the legs and came out with just missing a Boston Qualifier Time, 55 seconds to be exact, but managed to be the #1 runner on the team. Awesome opportunity met some amazing people and had a great time.

Team USAFEurope at the AF MarathonBerlin and me with the guy that carried the flag for the whole marathon!

Then came my trip to Florida for the 70.3 World Champs, another great experience. Mom made the trip out from Cali and we got to hang out in FL for a few days. I also met up with Eric who I had met in Korea and raced with in China. Then there was Gary and Petra, who were out in Germany for the 70.3 who also made the trek to FL. It is amazing how some relationships are formed in such a short time and you can become great friends. Florida was a real eye opener for me showing me just how good the best in the World are at our sport and how hard you have to work to get to that level. Completely got my butt handed to me, but still walked away learning some key lessons.

Gary, myself and Petra in Florida!

After that winter hit and training became pretty boring. I had to commute 10 miles each way through some crappy parts of town to get to the university to swim. I rode my bike and it was always an adventure. I needed to stay motivated so I signed up for Wildflower Long Course, and planned my vacation around that race so that I could make it home for it. I had convinced Gary, who I met in Germany and then hung out with in FL to make the trek out for WF. It was a race that was on his to do list. Gary is in his mid 50's and is quite the inspiration. If I can be in shape like him when I am "that young" I will be very happy! Then Amy also joined in on the fun, she didn't like the camping scene too much the year before but luckily my parents came out and camped this year so we did it up like the "rich and famous" and went with an RV. It was actually quite nice to have a bed to sleep on, but like I said the first time WF people have to camp so they get the full experience. So back home to Cali and once again another eye opening experience getting my butt handed to me. I had heard the bike course was hard on the Long Course, but it wasn't the bike that was bad it was the pure misery of the hilly run course. All in all another great WF experience.

WF #2 with an RV and all! Myself, Amy, Gary

I got back to Turkey and well just when I thought the whole tour was a lost cause an awesome runner showed up. I already had Seth and Berlin to run with, but they were both married and I have a firm belief that family comes first and I completely understand that so there were times when they couldn't run due to family duties. Well Elissa showed up and she was single and an awesome runner. She has ran for the AF Academy and then for the AF Cross Country and Marathon Team. It was amazing to have someone with that kind of talent and experience on base to train with. I only had 3 months left but to be able to pick her brain on training ideas and actually be able to run with her a few days a week made things a whole lot better. When you have someone holding you accountable to show up it always makes getting out of bed easier. I was able to have her sit me down and lay out a training plan for my next marathon, which was suppose to be AF Marathon but that got changed due to having to head to Korea. We made some adjustments to the plan when AF Marathon feel through and I headed back to Korea to do my 3rd marathon with a goal of breaking 3 hours (if you don't remember how that went, it will be in part 3).

So all in all Turkey had its up and downs. It was not the best place to be for training/racing, although I met some great people out there. I was able to focus on school and take quite a few classes due to having a pretty laid back job. I was also fortunate to have a very supporting chain of command which allowed me plenty of opportunities to train and race and follow my passions.

Thanks to all of those people that were along for this part of the journey:

Family- You guys are there 24/7-365, anytime I need someone you are just a phone call away. You have been so supportive through this whole thing it is amazing!

Seth- Thanks for always giving me a run for my money and kicking my @SS! I will never forget us bartering with each other on what race to do so that we could both walk away with a new pair of shoes ;)

Berlin- Man did we have some good adventures, wish AF Marathon would of worked out for 2010. But I think the first one was quite a good time and then your first triathlon experience was another great adventure. All the best to you and your family and I look forward to training/racing with you in the future.

Elissa- What an awesome opportunity to be able to train with you and pick your brain on everything. It was amazing to be able to train with someone of your caliber and have someone constantly pushing me! Right now you are "faster" than me with your Marine Corps Marathon time, but I tell you I am gunning to take that record back ;) Keep up the hard work and look forward to our paths crossing again.

Gary- Pretty amazing how in less than a year we can race 3 different races together and become good friends. You are a true inspiration and I look forward to future races with you. I might just have to put IM Wisconsin on the list ;)

Amy- Pretty crazy how we met, but you are an awesome person. It is always great to chat it up with you and share stories. Thanks for filling in for me this year at WF and taking care of the family and sharing a few glasses of wine with my mom. Possibly next year I will be out for it??

Here are some pictures from this portion of the Journey:

Wildflower Prep race, UVAS Olympic distance race. Getting the bike ready with dad.

Part of the Incirlik crew at one of my last races before leaving. Berlin, me, Chad, Elissa, Jim.

The Road to my First IM..........Part 1

2011-06-21T19:44:00.000-07:00

21 June 2011-

With IRONMAN Korea just 12 days away I figured I better get started on this blog that I wanted to post before I started my first IM. I think I will break it up into 3 or 4 parts and explain where I came from and where I plan on going. I will break it down into the last couple of years of training and where it all started. I figure the easiest way for me to reflect back is to do it by military assignments, and fortunately there has only been 3 since I started all this craziness. One of the most frequent questions that I get is, "What/How/Who got you into this?"

So the journey began in December of 2007, well that is when the thoughts of doing a tri crossed my mind. I got a random email with a flyer about a tri on base in June of 2008. I thought perfect, I have leave planned to go home in June and I was getting on the chunky side, yes for some of you that is hard to believe but I was close to 185lbs. I was staying somewhat active my first year in Korea, well if you consider playing Volleyball once a week and then drinking 2-4 nights a week active. Yes, Korea is known for its drinking, I can tell you skip 4 years of college partying go to Osan for ONE yes ONE year and you will get 4 years of college partying out of the way. So I drank quite a bit, wouldn't say I had a problem, but I was just tired of waking up hungover wasting the days away and not being productive.

I found a beginner tri plan online, picked up a cheap $250 bike and it all began in March 2008. I started riding with the local group of roadies and was getting my legs torn off for the first couple rides, well months. They all feared the beater bike that I had as the rear wheel was so out of true it wobbled from side to side and creaked like crazy. No one wanted to ride behind me as they feared this wheel was going to just come apart right in front of them. I finally upgraded two weeks before the first tri and did my first century on the Trek 1200 that I had purchased used. On that first century, me being the newb I was fell over about 25 miles into the ride, since I wasn't use to being clipped in. Pretty comical as everyone looked at me like I was a complete idiot, but I guess everyone has done it at least once ;)

Really, Who rides in basketball shorts, a t-shirt and reflective vest? I am surprised they even let me ride with them ;)The first bike, AKA A POS, A CLUNKER!

The first tri came and went and then I really got the bug. I went home on leave and lined up a bike to borrow from my uncle and signed up for another tri. That was my first open water swim, and both of my parents feared that I was going to drowned, well I thought it was a possibility as well as I was out there doggy paddling, side stroking, treading water and so on. Yes the swim has been my weak point since day 1! I got back from leave and met an awesome guy, which I have referred to before as "my logistical manager", Des. This is when all hell broke lose. From June-November I raced 16 different events, which included my first Marathon. To look back on that experience and how DUMB it was, click HERE. I didn't include it in there, but the longest run I had before that Marathon was an 18 miler, 4 days before. Then other than that was a half marathon the weekend prior and a few 5-6 miles run before that. Yes, I was young and dumb, well I still am, but I am slowly learning ;)

The first race, really who races topless? What a newbie!

All of my races throughout 2008 took place in Korea with one race at home while I was on leave. I was scheduled to depart Korea in April of 2009, so I signed up for my first Half IRONMAN with China 70.3. I came across a great deal over the winter and picked up my first tri bike with the Cervelo P3C. I got it on closeout and could not believe the deal I got on it and was really happy to be on a fast bike for my first big race. I went to China somewhat prepared as I had been training with some great people all winter long and was probably not properly trained, but I followed once again an online beginner plan and then did some other stuff on my own. I went to China really wanting to qualify for the World Championships, I had no idea how hard or easy it was going to be. I just thought I was in good shape, little did I know how rough of a day it was going to be and in what decent shape I was in. The one thing that saved me is that it got HOT, if you don't remember check out the race report and pictures. So I got that slot to the World Champs and had a great race for my first 70.3, well a great finish, I wouldn't call it much of a race.

Picking up the AG Win in China and the WC Slot to Clearwater!

So with all of this time spent in Korea there were some very very inspiring/influential people that impacted me and that have contributed in someway to where I am today. I owe it to them for shaping me into the athlete I am today, this has been a journey and without them it would not have been possible. So in no particular order, the people that were along for this portion of the journey:

Family- You guys have been along for this crazy ride the whole time. The support that you have provided is amazing and of course I would not be where I am today without you!

Col Becker (now General Becker)- For starting the sprint tri on base and being a mentor for me throughout the whole stay in Korea. Truly inspiring to see you at your "young" age still take it to us young guys and tear our legs off. To have a second family in Korea was really nice, for you and Sherri to open your house up for the Holidays really made me feel like I was at home, Thanks!

Mark- Once you arrived in February, everything went into fast forward and we trained HARD. You pushed me day in and day out and it was always a guarantee that you would show up for a workout. Crazy how fast two people can become great friends, but I guess when you spend crazy amounts of hours putting miles in that tends to happen. You and your family are truly amazing and you are an awesome role model that I look up to!

OC- Man o Man did we have some journeys throughout Korea. For making the trip out to Cali for WF and for all the memories, it was a good time.

Super Dave- For kicking my rear end on the bike day in and day out and teaching me the beginnings of becoming a cyclist.

Jeff- Man I was scared a few times you were going to run me off the road. You had to been tired of my newb ass the first couple rides always asking dumb questions ;) Thanks for making some awesome journeys throughout Korea and mentoring me on the tri scene!

Des- Dude you have been along on this whole journey. You have to be tired of all the favors I ask from you, but a lot of this wouldn't of happened without you there at Osan. I mean not being able to walk for a few days after my first marathon, I can thank you for that. Who convinces someone to run a marathon with no training...........YOU!

Eric- For making the journey out to China with me and experiencing that hell of a race. You have been a great mentor throughout this whole journey, thanks for all of your knowledge and expertise! Hopefully someday we will both be racing Kona together!

Tim R.- Once again another roadie that taught me about biking. Always good to share the road with you and enjoy some of Korea. I will never forget our stop at the Korean soup place out by the Ocean and how you didn't like sea food but still ate it.

Jess- For showing me what it was liked to constantly get "chicked" on group rides as you would tear my legs off. I was scared to go ride with you as it was never fun getting my legs torn off by you!

Shauna- For trying to make me a swimmer, I have come to the conclusion that it is a lost cause ;) I will get more into how great of a person you are in the next blog. But thanks for the great memories in Korea, and always telling me to get off the wall and swim more!

Tim L.- For being like Shauna and trying to make me a swimmer. I have come to the conclusion it is a lost cause!

Pyeongtaek Tri Club- These guys have been a huge help throughout all of my travels and racing in Korea. Without Mr. Yu and Bobby I would not have made it back from a few races or of gotten into some races. They have been an incredible group of people!

The Girls ;)- I won't name any names, juts that there were a few, very small number that put up with my craziness. I mean what kind of guy gets out of bed to go ride his bike and leaves a girl in bed on the weekend? Well I can say that the stupidity of that has paid off with the training and results, but not with the girls as obviously I am still single. But for the ones that put up with it for the time while I was in Korea I appreciated it!

Anyone else that I left off, I am sorry. It was a few years back and I am getting old so my memory is slipping me. The first couple of months were really just a blur as it seemed all I did was just race, well more than train, it has been said that when starting out you can race your way into shape, and it seems that I successfully did that without getting injured, lucky me!

So that was the first portion of the journey in a nutshell. I tried to keep it short and sweet and I am sure I left out some funny stories, but man it seems like that was a long time ago.

The group ride where everyone got to see me topple over. For some reason whenever we would have a century ride massive amounts of people would come out. I don't think we have this many roadies at Osan right now. Maybe all it takes is putting together a century and they will all come out.

Meeting Triathlon Olympic bronze meadlist Jan Rehula.

My first podium and AG Win!

Myself and Mr. Yu, this man speaks very little English, but he has taken me in as one of his own team members and has helped me out throughout all of my time in Korea. Great man and kick as Triathlete!

Well until I get around to typing up Part 2, this will have to do...........

Silicon Valley LC RR- All for the Family!

2011-06-13T20:20:00.000-07:00

11 June 2011- Silicon Valley Long Course Tri-

So with IM China being canceled it meant a change to the schedule. I was able to come home early and get in one more race before my first IM. The race was a little akward on distances but it worked out quite well for me and suited my strengths. It was a 1 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 9 mile run. They had a military discount and on top of that I was able to use a discount code for 15% off. So all in all I ended up getting into the race for $142, which isn't too bad for a long course race. It was also only a few miles from my brothers new condo so I stayed the night there and then got a short warm up ride to the race start the morning of.

I have been racing all of my races now with a purpose and it makes them so much more meaningful and gives me a reason to push myself. Before this race I wanted to race for my family, for the simple fact of how much they support me. I also knew that all of them were going to be there for the race and that meant a lot for me. It is very rare to have them at my races since I primarily race out of the country. Knowing that they were all going to be there for some reason made me nervous, I have never been nervous before a race before. I didn't sleep all that well the night before and maybe got 2 hours of sleep.

So race morning came and I woke up and hung out with my brother and had breakfast bright and early at 4am. I got a good meal in, the typical cup of coffee, 2 instant bags of oatmeal, a banana and a sports drink. Also kept the streak alive and took care of business. So the morning went well and the short 15 minute ride to the race start was nice and loosened up the legs a bit.

Swim- 1 Mile-
It was a 2 loop swim course with each lap being .5 miles and going around a small island. It was in a lake so there was no chop and it was smooth water. I was in the first wave with 18-34 Males and we had a decent size wave. I came out of the first loop in 2nd place, which I didn't know till after the race. I was kind of shocked by that as my swim is my weak point but is slowly improving. After the second loop I came out with 2nd and 3rd place swimmers and was in 4th. A few other guys from later waves got around me and smoked the swim so I ended 18th overall with my swim time.

Bike- 56 Miles-
It was a good ride with some great scenery. It was a little windy though and had 2 good climbs which had some switchbacks on it. Overall it was a good bike and there were 3 of us that legally worked with each other for a majority of the ride. I ended up dropping the 2 of them around mile 40 but then at mile 45 I had to stop and pee and they got around me. Took a couple more miles down the road and I ended up re passing them. Overall I felt really strong on the bike and was happy about my time and 5th fastest split on the day.

Run- 9 Miles-
With the run being 9 miles I was a little bummed as the full 13 would of been better suited for me as my run has become quite strong. The plan going into the run was to negative split and build into it. This is something that is pretty difficult to do but some of my run training has included some training with negative splitting the run so I felt like I could do it going into the race. The first 4.5 miles I went 28:18 and then for the second half I went 27:26, for a total of 55:44. I was able to run down 3 of the 4 guys that were ahead of me and crossed the line in 2nd. But due to the wave starts there was a 47 year old that finished within 2 minute of me but he started 9 mins after I did so he ended up winning the whole thing and then the guy that had crossed the line first came in 2nd overall. I ended up being 3rd Overall and running hard of the bike was a key to the successful day.

Splits/Stats:
Swim- 23:51/18th
Bike- 2:25:50/5th (23mph/avg)
Run- 55:44/3rd (6:12min/mile)
Total: 3:47:28/3rd Overall out of 307/1st out of 21 in AG

Overall-
I felt like this was my best race to date and I was able to put everything together and have solid performances in each event. I felt like I had nailed my nutrition as well which was something that I wanted to make sure was squared away before IM Korea. This was definitely a huge confidence booster going into my first IRONMAN and I can not thank everyone enough for all of their continued support. My family has been great, my coach has been there to keep me going when things got tough and then all of my friends, you guys are truly amazing!

The bike all setup in transition area.

Coming out of the water 2nd in our wave on the first loop, the guy right behind me was in 3rd.

Coming out of T1.

Headed out onto the run...

Bottle of wine and a Clean Water Bottle......Hopefully wearing that bright blue shirt on all these podiums will get us some more triathletes into the AF ;)

Mamma Weez and myself.

Bryan, Steve, Mom, Maddy and Me

Brenda, Me, and Dad

The 3 of us. Man I miss these 2 when I am gone! She can be a typical little sister most the time but I still love her to pieces!

First TTT=WIN.....But What is This Weekend Really About??

2011-05-31T03:20:00.000-07:00

31 May 2011- Hwaseong TTT-

This past Saturday the team I rode for during the TDK reassembled to take part in a Team Time Trial(TTT). We added a few other people to form a strong 7 man team that we felt had a good shot at being the top team. The event allowed all Time Trial gear, so I of course used my P3, Rudy Wingspan Helmet and a borrowed Skin Suit. My buddy Zach Garrett rides for the U.S. Military Cycling team so I got a cool Stars and Stripes skin suit to show off. Peter (AKA Honey Badger) likes our as he calls them, "Captain AmeRICA" suits and laughs at us when we put them on, this weekend though since 2 of us had them on he felt left out and admitted that he wanted one of his own. This weekend meant a lot more to me than just going out to win a race.

I took the opportunity to sport the red, white and blue and take it to the top spot on the podium. I took great pride leading our team to a victory and making sure we pushed the pace. We started with 7 riders but only had to finish with 4. By the second lap we were down to 5 riders, we made some adjustments on the fly due to the wind. By the 2nd lap our team manager Jeremy was holding a sign that said "47" BACK", I was thinking crap we are down 47" already. Then it grew as each lap went on, I was a little baffled as I thought we were putting down a solid effort. On lap 6 Honey Badger heard on the radio that we were "UP 2 minutes", so there was some confusion, but we ended up winning by almost 2 minutes and showed some of the teams from the TDK that our finish of 2nd at the TDK was no fluke.

As for the rest of the weekend I got in some solid training and had a pretty relaxing weekend. Sunday I got out for a 5 hour ride, and ended up being solo. It was a good opportunity to reflect on things and appreciate everything I have been blessed with. As I was riding I was able to think about Memorial Day and what it really means. Being on Facebook quite regularly I was able to see quite a few peoples post about their weekend plans and what they were going to be doing. It ranged from: weekend get-aways, BBQ's, lake trips, drinking, partying, family get togethers. Then throughout these posts there were the occasional "Thanks to the Troops", "Thanks for those that served", and so on.

The one thing that I ask is that if you enjoyed this weekend and had a great 3 day break but for some reason it went by too fast and you were wishing you had one more day off, remember why you had the extra day off in the first place: MEMORIAL DAY. I am sure many of you know why we had the day off and actually appreciate those that have served and that are serving. Freedom isn't free and it is something that I took for granted growing up, but take a minute to remember why you had that day off and don't take the freedoms we have for granted. There are many people down range, away from their families, in a hospital or dead because they paid the ultimate sacrifice so that we could enjoy our 3 day weekend. Thanks to all of those that continue to support our troops, we really do appreciate it!

Alright now that I am off my soap box, here are some pictures from the weekend along with some power data for you cycling nerds!

1st Place out of 20! 54:16, strong cross wind, won by almost 2 minutes!

Duration: 54:16
Work: 853 kJ
TSS: 75 (intensity factor 0.91)
Norm Power: 282
VI: 1.08
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 2938 262 watts
Cadence: 29 197 94 rpm
Crank Torque: 0 1807 235 lb-in

Click Power Chart to englarge...

Peak 5s (1301 watts):
Duration: 0:05
Work: 6 kJ
VI: n/a
Min Max Avg
Power: 353 2666 1301 watts
Cadence: 46 151 82 rpm
Crank Torque: 648 1807 1127 lb-in

Peak 10s (803 watts):
Duration: 0:10
Work: 8 kJ
Min Max Avg
Power: 71 2666 803 watts
Cadence: 46 151 69 rpm
Crank Torque: 115 1807 786 lb-in

Peak 20s (624 watts):
Duration: 0:20
Work: 12 kJ
Min Max Avg
Power: 71 2666 624 watts
Cadence: 46 151 76 rpm
Crank Torque: 115 1807 618 lb-in

Peak 30s (542 watts):
Duration: 0:30
Work: 16 kJ
Min Max Avg
Power: 71 2666 542 watts
Cadence: 46 151 82 rpm
Crank Torque: 115 1807 526 lb-in

Peak 1min (413 watts):
Duration: 1:00
Work: 24 kJ
Min Max Avg
Power: 7 2666 413 watts
Cadence: 46 151 83 rpm
Crank Torque: 8 1807 405 lb-in

Peak 2min (344 watts):
Duration: 2:00
Work: 41 kJ
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 744 344 watts
Cadence: 75 105 89 rpm
Crank Torque: 0 683 324 lb-in

Peak 5min (291 watts):
Duration: 5:00
Work: 87 kJ
TSS: 7.8 (intensity factor 0.965)
Norm Power: 299
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 792 291 watts
Cadence: 82 110 96 rpm
Crank Torque: 0 705 260 lb-in

Peak 10min (281 watts):
Duration: 10:00
Work: 168 kJ
TSS: 14.9 (intensity factor 0.945)
Norm Power: 293
Min Max Avg
Power: 64 832 281 watts
Cadence: 82 110 94 rpm
Crank Torque: 53 740 254 lb-in

Peak 20min (269 watts):
Duration: 20:00
Work: 322 kJ
TSS: 28.5 (intensity factor 0.924)
Norm Power: 287
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 2666 269 watts
Cadence: 46 151 96 rpm
Crank Torque: 0 1807 238 lb-in

Peak 30min (264 watts):
Duration: 30:00
Work: 474 kJ
TSS: 41.3 (intensity factor 0.909)
Norm Power: 282
Min Max Avg
Power: 8 2938 264 watts
Cadence: 56 197 93 rpm
Crank Torque: 9 1259 239 lb-in

The 2 Teams, one of 7 and one of 4. 5 Americans, 3 Koreans, 1 South African, 1 Irish, 1 Belgium. Quite a diverse group of guys!

Leading the group in the Awesome Red White and Blue, Stars and Stripes!!

The 5 finishers on our 1st place team!

On the podium, holding the bike that I will hopefully be on next year ;)

Yeosu Tri

2011-05-25T05:22:00.000-07:00

8 May 2011- Yeosu South Korea-

Well with the race being on Mothers day and all and me being away from home I figured there was no need to stay around base. So instead of sitting in my room and being sad about not having all the great motherly figures that are in my life around and not getting to spend the day with my Mom, I packed up and headed South. One of my friends was suppose to go with me, but with it being mothers day he was put in a sticky situation and ended up staying home with the family. I don't blame him one bit, that is one thing that I value more than anything is FAMILY, they come before everything, well except my faith. So since I have started racing each race with a purpose, I raced this race for all the Moms out there, especially my mom, step mom, and grandmas!

The interesting thing about this race is that it was the first Olympic Distance race I did way back when in 2008. So I was looking forward to this race. I talked with coach about racing with it and we disagreed on it and he wanted me to get a big weekend in. So I convinced him to let me race it and we would still go big and just push right through it. So what did that mean? Well it meant a 20 mile run on Friday, and then getting up at 430am on Saturday to get in a 4 hour ride before heading down there. The somewhat crappy part about the early morning ride was that it ended up being somewhat miserable with rain and being wet, but luckily it was in the 60's. I even conned two buddies into joining me in the misery, so it ended up not being too bad. Came back from the ride and rushed to the train station to sit on the train for 5 hours.

I showed up to the train station and they told me the next train was "Sold Out", well luckily I knew what time it was leaving and bought a ticket for the next "available" train. The funny thing is I knew I was not going to be using a seat anyways since I had my bike. So I snuck on the early train and just hung out in the food cart. After about 2 hours a lady came by and asked me for my ticket, I showed her my ticket and she gave me the "O NOOOOOOO". Then the fun began, she informed me I was on the wrong train, and I played dumb American. Then she tells me you are in luck though it is headed to the same location. I ended up having to pay a "fee", but it was cheaper then what I originally would of payed to ride that train anyways. That train was faster than the next one by about 30 minutes, it had less stops. So in all actuality I save a couple dollars got there about 2 hours earlier and had somewhat of a stress free trip down there.

I met up with some friends from Seoul who had traveled in a big group down there. We all stayed at the same hotel and it was the exact same place I stayed in 2008, what a coincidence huh? This is the first time I have ever had problems with the Korean Tri Federation. I never pay in advance and always just pay at the race, well except for the one race last year where I was able to race AG Elite. They did away with that this year so I am not able to race for free anymore :( At registration it turned into a big ordeal that none of us had paid and kind of made pre-race day a little bit of a nightmare. I mean all in all it was my fault, but when I have been racing here since 2008 and have never had a problem it was a little strange.

Onto race morning I woke up and got a little bit of food down and as usual was able to take care of the pre race ritual. It is one thing I wake up every race morning fearing I won't be able to accomplish the pre race mission, but still haven't failed yet. Considering the past couple days of training I was feeling a little sluggish but figured once I got in the water I would wake right up and the body would start going.

Swim-

It was a 2 loop course that you never had to exit the water. So if you were a really bad swimmer you could of just exited on your first loop with a decent swim time of low 20's. I guess they trust the Koreans and us foreigners, its hard to believe since the bike courses are always a draft fest. Anyways the first loop I had some clear water and actually found some feet to draft off of for about 1/2 of the lap. The second loop was somewhat of a nightmare with a lot of people out on the course so it was more of a maze and just trying to find clear water. I came out of the water 4th in my AG, which wasn't bad at all. Luckily I had some friends spectating and they were able to give me some splits. I was down about 1m30s to "The Honey Badger" from the TDK aka Peter Tuhoy. The goal was to come out close to him so we could "work" together on the bike knowing that it is Korea and how you get in the draft or you just see the trains go right on by.

T1-

I should of just considered this as the additional mileage for the run, more to come on that. But the transition was probably close to a 1/2 mile trot, I took my splits from my garmin and adjusted them to there splits, since they didn't time T1 and T2, and it was 3:47 for T1.

Bike-

Well when you take 461 people onto a 4 loop bike course what else do you expect, a DRAFT FEST. I was pretty much solo for the first loop, I had passed a few of the people that came out of the water ahead of me, the 30-39 AG had a few people in our wave and there was a few of them that got out ahead of me. I hammered the first lap trying to catch Peter, and sure enough at the end of lap 1 we were together. We did some good work together but the 2 guys that were out of the water a little bit ahead of him were still up the road a bit on us. By the time lap 4 started Peter was getting a little tired, and he was riding a road bike with clip ons as well as a compact crank. The course and some rolling hills, so on the down hills he struggled to hang on. I knew I had to drop him or else he would come off the bike thinking he could run with me, and when you give him the thought he will somehow pull it off. He hasn't been running much and was just focusing on the TDK, but knowing him if he was with me he would of given it everything. So the other portion of the plan was to get away from him and create some separation headed into T2. Luckily I was able to get away and stay away.

T2- Not near as long as T1, but still a good jaunt out to the actual run course. I had a decent transition and the legs actually felt good.

Run-

Like I said surprisingly the legs felt good. I was told that the other 2 guys were 1:30 and 3 minutes up the road. I knew I had some work to do so I just kept focused and tried to reel the in. I pushed hard and just couldn't bridge the gap. I had some very solid miles though (well only 5 of them since the course was short) 6:17/6:22/6:04/6:06/5:43. I ended up crossing the line in what I though was 3rd, but of course in Korea some weird things happen. More to come on that.........

The biggest disappointment was that the bike and run courses were both short. The bike was about 5K short and the run was 2K short. The sad thing was I knew the bike was going to be short, but in 2008 the run was at least legit.

Here are my Overall placings and splits with Pros Included from the KTF. There were a total of 13 Pro Men that started the race!:

Swim-23:31/18th Overall/8th Amateur
Bike-54:55/4th Overall/2nd Amateur
Run-32:07/7th Overall/3rd Amateur
Total-1:50:31/7th Overall/2nd Amateur

My times adjusted w/ T1 and T2:
Swim-23:31
T1-3:47
Bike-51:08-24.5mph/avg (20.9 Miles)
T2- 1:36
Run-30:29-6:07min/mil avg (5 miles)

So the interesting thing was at awards they called me up as 1st Place in my AG. Then the official results came out a few days later and I was listed as 2nd. Then there was no results for Peter or the Korean guy that "won" the race in the Amateur Division. According to Peter the 2 guys that beat me have been down in Jeju training to become pros this year and that is why they were not put in the results at the race, but not sure why the one guy was in the "official" results, maybe he didn't make the cut to become a Pro, not sure how the Korean system works.

Overall though I am extremely happy with the results considering how hard I had trained that week coming into the race. Always looking at the big picture and staying focused for the #1 goal of the year, IM CHINA..................O wait if you hadn't heard IM CHINA WAS CANCELED! Luckily I was able to re arrange some things and I am coming home early 5 June-30 June, as opposed to 23 June -11 July. I will now be home before my first IM and will hurry back to Korea to do IM Korea on July 3rd. You may ask why I wasn't just doing IM Korea in the first place, well they didn't announce it till March 18th, my birthday. I had already had IM China planned and paid for so there was no turning back or switching plans as I was already committed financially. More to come on how all of the cancellations and financial burden this cost me in another blog, this one is already WAY to long!

Here are some pictures from the race weekend:

My little corner of the train. The Cervelo and a bunch of beer, can't really think of a better trade off........

What? I am really only 1m30s back on Peter? You sure that is right??????

1st Lap solo.....Imagine that riding solo in a tri ;)

Hammer down trying to catch Peter.......Out on the run, the course got crowded on the second loop.....
An extra medal, cool trophy and of course the typical Korean Certificate(which I left in Mr. Yu's car :(, will get it back sooner than later). And then the bonus, 10lbs of Kimchi! Mr. Yu's wife was much appreciative of it, they wouldn't take gas money so Kimchi was a good trade off!

I was lucky enough to catch a ride back with my buddy Mr. Yu. We stopped and had eel, it actually was not bad at all. He told me it gives you lots of "stamina" and I am pretty sure he was referring to the stamina that is needed in bed and not in a triathlon.........Can't say I can tell you if it is true or not, what kind of girl would be interested in a guy that commits 20+ hours a week to training and all of his other time to a college degree?? ;)

TDK Reflections........

2011-05-09T04:20:00.000-07:00

9 May 2011-

Well it has been 2 weeks since the TDK ended and that has given me sometime to reflect on the whole experience. First off I want to say thanks to everyone for their continued support through the 10 days. It was amazing to see all the comments on FB and on here and know that a good group of people were following. It was an amazing experience to say the least, and I feel very fortunate to of been a part of the whole experience.

So with this being my first road racing experience I came in with no expectations. I had a few friends tell me that I was going to do great and surprise myself, so I had a feeling things would be alright. I don't think my coach was to fond of the idea being that road racing is notorious for crashes and with 9 days of racing something was bound to happen. Going into the race I had told myself I wasn't there to win, podium or go all out for just a higher finishing position. I was there to help the team and benefit them in anyway that I could. I just wanted to get 9 solid days of riding in my legs and not have to worry about work or anything else. I feel this was accomplished and luckily I kept it upright for 9 days and was not involved in any crashes.

I think all in all the whole experience was amazing. Although it seems the cycling world is a little more drama field than the triathlon world, well triathlon is drama free, so that is the one thing that was a little irritating. It is funny how whiny and fussy grown men can get over the littlest things, and then being around a testosterone field van and team of cyclist for 9 days doesn't make things much better. But some great friendships were made and lifetime experiences were had that will never be forgotten.

I can't wait until next year, and this just might become the main goal for early 2012 as I thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience. Thanks again for all of the continued support! A big thanks also goes out to my leadership for allowing me the time off work to go and race and represent the AF. Many ask how I get so much time off of work, a former boss once told me "Brad, as long as you come to work and bust your @$$ and make me 'money', I will do everything I can to support you. But you have to remember, the MISSION comes first". With that being said one thing I learned early in life with racing Quartermidgets and seeking sponsorship was what my Dad told me "What is the worst thing they can tell you when you ask for Sponsorship? NO! But if you don't ask you will never know". So with that being said, I ask for a lot of time off from work to compete in some big race around the world. Not to blow my own horn, but I believe I am allowed to do what I do because I show up to work I produce quality work and I am rewarded for it. Some also ask how is it that I get Permissive TDY for this and not charged leave, well luckily the AF is great about promoting its image. With physical fitness being one of the hot items, they don't mind allowing us to do things like the Tour de Korea, IM China, AF Marathon and so on, because it brings a good image to the AF and also promotes a good neighbor program when overseas. So I am fortunate to have such an understanding and supportive group of leaders who have continued to support me throughout the past couple of years.

Since I didn't really post results throughout the TDK here is a recap of each stage-

10 Days, 9 Stages 24 hours of total saddle time, 487 miles of racing and then because I am a goof ball Triathlete 3 hours 46 minutes of running with 27 total miles, but couldn't find a single pool :(

Stage 1- 116th/150 -33:13 off of leader (Gave up wheel and waited for support van. Would of been around 25th, -6:17, that is the group I crested the mountain with and then had to stop on the descent.)
Stage 2- 43rd/147 -0:08 off of leader
Stage 3- 63rd/149 -2:55 off of leader (First main pack, 4 man break got away. Lead out Elmer from 1K to 12th Overall)
Stage 4- 77th/130 -3:59 off of leader (Stopped to pull GC rider back to peloton after he flatted. The gap was too big and we were in 2nd group)
Stage 5- 72nd/130 -3:49 off of leader (Just flat out got dropped)
Stage 6- 45th/124 -9:21 off of leader
Stage 7- DNF (border line hypothermia day) 36 of 111 DNF'd
Stage 8- 44th/132 -3:21 off of leader
Stage 9- 34th/146 -0:24 off of leader

And some pictures that I may have or have not posted throughout the TDK:

On the sea wall setting the pace for the peloton......

Amazing scenery.........

Cherry Blossoms in full bloom...

The day we finished in Gunsan (where Kunsan AB is)

The Team......My mentor who is 30 years older and kicked my butt!

You know you have been in Korea to long when you eat cookies with chop sticks!

And all good things have to come to an end. This couldn't of been possible without the efforts put forth by our team manager Jeremy Moon. The guy put up with a lot of shit, and I joked around a lot with him, so when I was being serious I had to state up front that I was being serious, because I guess my sarcasm gets lost in translation. Looking forward to next year buddy!

TDK- Stage 9

2011-04-26T05:11:00.000-07:00

Stage 9- 24 April 2011-

Well all good things must come to an end sooner or later, it is just a fact of life. The one good thing about today is that the race started and finished in Seoul which meant a lot of people showed up to support us. It was a huge event and started in downtown seoul, right across from the US Embassy. The US Ambassador came down and met the Americans that were racing, she even showed up on a mountain bike and had a patriotic jersey on. She was really nice and was interested to hear about our stories from the race and why we were in Korea. A few people from the Seoul Flyers, the running group I race with, showed up at both the start and finish which was nice to see some familiar faces. The race was the shortest one of the whole TDK and was only 47K total. It was neutral though for 8K so we really only "raced" for 39K. But man was it a fast 39K, we averaged 27.5 miles an hour, and had some stiff head winds at times. There was a bad crash on the freeway that was right next to me and luckily I just missed it, going down at 35mph would not have been fun. I was riding strong and up front for the most of the ride. At about 5K out I knew I needed to be up towards the front but the pace just kept increasing and I couldn't get in good position. I was able to pick off a few people in the last 2K, due to some sharp corners and they couldn't accelerate out as fast as I did, but I still wasn't up front like I wanted to be. I ended up in the top 40 and was pleased with that as this was a Stage a lot of people were gunning for. The day ended well and I was just happy to still be on 2 wheels after 9 days. Here are some pictures from throughout the day.

The Pink Panther was tired come Stage 9

The Flying Ostrich and myself on an awesome Sunday morning!

The guys trying to stay warm.....

The honey badger, Shin Shin, and myself!

The foreigners, minus Alex, and Shin...

TDK- Stage 8

2011-04-26T03:53:00.000-07:00

Stage 8- 16 April 2011-

Today was the one day that I was really looking forward to as I knew the course was going to be amazing. We finished in the town of Chuncheon, which is where I have ran 2 marathons and it is a special place to me. It is a really nice town and has some amazing scenery. The cool part was that waking up this morning we were right on the beach and the weather wasn't too bad at all. Today had a tough climb and I knew my legs were feeling good as yesterday on the first climb they felt great, so I figured I would have a good go at it. I know I am not a pure climber but was hoping to get over the climb with a good group so that we could try and get back to the main group.

I got myself over the climb in good position but took the descent very careful as I would rather make it down the mountain 30 seconds back than 30 second up but in 5 pieces and a few broken bones. So I lost some ground on the descent but we had a good sized group to work with. There ended up being about 10 of us in our group and another group up the road with about 8 riders. I was leading our group to try and catch the other group and wanting them to work to catch the group. It is hard to get the koreans to work up front but it seemed after a few choice words of motivation they started putting in some hard efforts. We worked our tails off but were never able to catch the other group. All in all it was a beautiful day and I got in some good work on the bike and ended up in the top 50, which I felt was a solid result.

Waking up on the ocean is quite the way to start out the day!

The good ol morning picture......

The pros with 3K to go....

Had dinner in Seoul with the "other" Brad from the Seoul Flyers. He has an awesome place with a great view.

And the day comes to an end with the sunset in Seoul!

Stage 7- Cold Miserable and a DNF

2011-04-22T02:57:00.000-07:00

Stage 7-

So woke up today to rain and cold weather. I tried my darnest to bundle up. I wrapped my knees in plastic wrap, my shoes in plastic wrap along with shoe covers, had plastic gloves on then warm winter gloves. I then had on Under Armour Cold top, a jersey, a long sleeve jersey, and a jacket, all covered up by a rain jacket. The first climb started at about 15K into the race. It was a steep hill with a bunch of switch backs, the picture is below. I made it to the top and my legs felt great, it was still part of the neutral zone (all the riders have to stay behind a pace car). They made us wait at the top to descend until everyone made it up. Once everyone was at the top we started to head down. It was a steep downhill and then once to the bottom it was gradual until the next climb. Well about 30K into the 100K ride I did a self check to see how the body was doing, it wasn't in a good state. My feet were really cold and wet, my fingers were numb and my legs were cold. My upper body was in good condition and warm. I decided to call it a day and get in the van. The TDK isn't my "A" race of the year and I figured packing it in was the best choice I could make to stay healthy and not get sick. We still have two more stages left so I figured I can come back strong tomorrow. The biggest disappointment was coming up to the top of the climb in the van to find out that they stopped the race at the top of the mountain, 50K in. All I would of had to do was make it another 20K, which I believe I could of done, as climbing would of warmed the body and the wind chill wouldn't of been so bad.

I still believe I made the right decision as the race could of went on. So I will start tomorrow stage 8 and hope for a good day. We are staying right on the beach tonight, as I type I can look out the window and see the waves crashing. I am still so grateful to be blessed with this opportunity and am so thankful to have made it through this race in one piece, so far. This is an amazing experience and all of the people that I have been able to meet and interact with has been awesome. I am kind of sad there is only 2 days left, but at the same time I am ready to embark on the next 5 weeks in preparation for IM China. Thanks again for all of the support and the amount of people following the blog and on FB means a lot.

Below is a video from today and the elevation chart and shot of the first climb.

Coming up the mountain after myself and Elmer got in the van. Thanks to Rich for helping us out and making sure we got warm right away. He experienced the horrible conditions last year and decided not to race today and was a great support person in the van!

The first climb was awesome, the legs felt great and it had some great switch backs. If you click on the picture, the first pause sign is where they stopped us and was at the top, the rest is the descent.

The first climb was the neutral one. My garmin stayed on when it was on the bike on the top of the roof so you can see the second climb as well. The peak is where the race stopped.

TDK- A Much Needed Rest Day

2011-04-21T05:43:00.000-07:00

TDK Day 7, Rest Day-

Well today was our first rest day since the TDK started. After riding for 6 straight days the body was definitely read for a break. We still had to travel to our next race location, so that was a 2 hour trip. It was nice to finally get to sleep in, still woke up at 6am but was able to fall back asleep and didn't get up till 8. The Pink Panther had us come over to his room for breakfast, and he got us bread, cheese, donuts, and chocolate. It was nice to not be hurried for breakfast and just relax and BS with the guys. After breakfast we packed up everything and made the journey to our next hotel. It took 2 hours and it is up at a ski resort. I went out for a short run to loosen up the legs and it felt good. After that Pablo, The Pink Panther, had his wife come and meet up with us. She was kind enough to bring us pasta, salad, cheese, and bread. It was a good change to the typical day to day buffets we had been having.

After dinner we had our team meeting and then we headed down to get some ice cream from Baskin Robins. While down there we found a bowling alley and decided to bowl a game. It was nice to just mess around and not think cycling and just have a good time. Now we are just back at the condo relaxing. The foreigners are all sharing a 2 bedroom condo and the koreans have their own.

Well I am off to bed now, here are a few pics from today...........

Running through the countryside.

Some interesting little huts along the run route.

A better shot of the little huts...

The indoor pool zone at the resort. No lap pool :( So no swimming today.

At the bowling alley with the guys. I won with a crappy 109, they thought that was good hahaha

TDK Stage 6-2nd Group

2011-04-20T17:44:00.000-07:00

TDK Stage 6-2nd Group

Well today was a pretty tough day, once again I got dropped from the main group. The neutral zone ended and the race started on a slight uphill and the pace picked right up. I couldn't get my butt up the small hill and found myself playing chase until the climb. The main group of about 40 riders just went up the hill at a very fast pace and I just tried to get up the hill picking off as many people as possible along the way. I made up some ground on some people along the way but on the descent I gave up all of that time and made my way down the mountain with just one other guy. We hit the flat and about 800M up the road was a group of 5 riders. It took us about 10K to pull them in and by that point we only had 8K to go. Behind us was a chase group that I figured would catch us if we didn't pick up the pace, so I took my fair amount of time up front pulling the group. If I can just get my butt over these climbs I would be in a lot better situation, it seems I am always playing catch now and working my tail off on the flats. The chase group never caught us and they were about 15 seconds back. I finally made a good decision when it came to the finish and I sat 3rd wheel in our group of 7 and with about 200m to go I came out of the saddle and sprinted away. It felt good to finally get the sprint down and know where I can go from, I think with a bigger group I would have to go from about 400m and see what happens. Although it was for a top 50 finish it was still good to out sprint some people.

It was not a great day for our team, well it had some positives and some negatives. We gave up quite a bit of time to the 2nd place team and now only lead by 41 seconds. But the positive thing was that we got our lead, Mr. Lee, into the Yellow Jersey and he has a 4 second lead. So we have been busting our tail to cover our overall team position, but now we will have to continue to do that and then cover for Mr. Lee and the Yellow Jersey. The next 3 days are going to be extremely tough, luckily tomorrow is a rest day!

Here are some pics from today:

Headed to the bus....

Mr. Lee takes the Yellow!

That little hill before the big one is where I got separated.

Yeah I think I might actually be gaining weight...........

The buffet line, it was long!

And then the famous Pink Panther singing to us on the way to the hotel, it was a 3K ride from the finish.

TDK Stage 5- DROPPED

2011-04-19T04:39:00.000-07:00

19 April 2011- Stage 5-

Well after 4 hard days of riding my body finally decided to break down. I got dropped on the second small climb and couldn't bridge the gap back up. I stayed out in no mans land for quite some time and with about 5K to go the second group caught me. I ended up a little bit over 3 minutes down, so hopefully my body can recover and come back strong tomorrow. We have a 8K climb tomorrow that starts 13K after the neutral zone, so it will be a brutal day, to say the least. We were able to maintain our team lead today and only lost 5 seconds. Going in tomorrow we should have a good day as it is in the mountains and we have a stacked team of climbers. We also have a chance to get Mr. Lee into the Yellow Jersey, so we will see what happens.

A big breakfast today before the race

The "Honey Badger" (Peter) is wide awake and consuming food as alw

The "Flying Ostrich" (Elmer) and Alex, who have been my 2 roomies, were looking over todays results.

Where is Elmer at? Well Elmer loves his bike so much he decided to take a nap on it and is using the towel as a blanket!

Our mechanic has been busting his butt so he decided to take a mid day nap on the floor. It is actually common for the hotels to not have beds and you have to sleep on the floor. He was out cold!

Stage 4- TDK....Crappy Weather.......Still better than WORKING!

2011-04-18T05:55:00.000-07:00

18 April 2011-

So today was another good day for the Team. The weather was pretty shitty, it drizzled/rained and was pretty cold. The neutral zone was 60K long today of the 97K, so we really only raced for 37K. 5K after the neutral zone one of our "A" team riders flatted and someone on our team gave them a wheel. I stopped to pull him back to the peloton, well attempt to pull him back. Once the wheel was changed we took off and I thought we were going to be able to bring the peloton back, but they were really flying. The guy I was pulling was struggling to hang on so it was frustrating to be a team player yet again and not be able to benefit the team in the end. It has been really rewarding to be a team player, although yesterday was the most rewarding day by helping Elmer get a good finish in the sprint. I hope to be up at the front tomorrow and cover more attacks from Biclo and then lead out our sprinter or any of our guys to a top finish. We will see what tomorrow brings, should be a great day weather wise and I look forward to logging some more miles on the bike. O and as crappy as the weather was today, it was still a lot better than WORKING ;)

Team standings and Individual Standings below, as of stage 4:

Indvidual-http://www.tourdekorea.or.kr/tdk2011/images/sub_result/special_s4_1.pdf
Team- http://www.tourdekorea.or.kr/tdk2011/images/sub_result/special_s4_4.pdf

There are always a lot of "what if's" in life. But doing some quick math, I could be sitting in 11th right now in individual G.C. if it weren't for giving up my wheel or today's attempt to pull the teammate back. But then again, if I were in that situation I may have done something stupid and crashed. Just good to know that I can compete in the cycling world, well here in Korea at least ;)

Here are some pics from today:

Dinner round #1!

A little sampler plate of some Korean food.....
Jeremy, the team manager/keeping the foreigners under control....
Sporting our PINK Harley shirts at dinner. Gotta make the sponsors proud.......

Then came desert!

Kaiden is getting in on the "Where is Elmer" daily photos......Elmer is actually inside the bag and Kaiden is in shock that he is hiding in there.

Stage Results from Stage 4.....

TDK- Stage 3

2011-04-18T00:51:00.000-07:00

17 April 2011- TDK Stage 3-

Well another day is down and the blog was delayed due to a little post race drinking, and an early morning wake up. It is hard to really remember yesterday, not because of the 3 beers, but more because this is just becoming one big blur. The only reason I knew yesterday was Sunday was because that some of the guys still had their girlfriends here. If it wasn't for that I wouldn't of known what day it was. It was a long day out in the wind across a long bridge. There was a short climb right after the neutral zone ended and I made it up with the second group. After the long descent we merged back up with the first group. We had a communication breakdown and the 2nd place team got 2 guys up the road before everyone merged up together. We let the 4 guys get up the road thinking we had 1 guy and they had 1 guy. Myself and the 2nd place team kept the peloton in tact and didn't let anyone else get away, but come to find out we should of been pulling the break back in. It was quite disappointing to come to the finish line and find out they got 2 guys up the road and we only had 1. They ended up gaining 3 minutes, which puts them still behind us but only by 3 minutes now. The big advantage we gained with the breakaway though was that Mr. Lee is now within 5 seconds of the Individual G.C. So we sacrificed 3 minutes on the team time but got our lead guy within 5 seconds of the G.C. Overall it was a good day and I was happy to be with the main group that finished. I tried to attack with 1K to go and that went pretty good pulling one of my team mates with me. I got pulled back in with about 500M to go and then my teammate, Elmer, "The Flying Ostrich" finished 7th in that group which put him 12th overall for the stage.

Here are a few pics from Day 2, since I didn't have many from Day 3.

Coming back up from the piss break on day 2.......

Where is Elmer? You mean you can't see him behind the tree?

Rich is having a tough TDK so we tried to get him in a better mood by getting him drunk. 15 beers between 6 cyclist= 6 drunk guys..........Man I am a light weight now!

Sporting our Harley Davidson PINK shirts...........The "Pink Panther" (AKA Pablo) owns the Storck store and all the HD shops in Korea, so they are a partial sponsor of the team. All of us have HD shirts or HD hats. With Rapha having pink as one of their main colors, they got us pink HD shirts............

Results after day 3......

TDK Day 2

2011-04-16T05:55:00.000-07:00

16 April 2011-

Well day 2 is complete............We had a long team meeting so this is going to be a short blog as it is getting late and I would like to get some decent sleep tonight. All in all it was a good day, we held on to our lead and didn't lose anytime in the Team G.C. My role today was to cover the attacks and make sure no one got away on the second place team. I put in some hard efforts and team "Bicyclo" was not happy that I kept on hanging on. They had 3 or 4 guys that would just attack after attack, and then I wouldn't pull as we wanted the peloton to come back, so they would yell at me in Korean and I would just laugh and smile back. I also called another rider a not so nice of name in english after he tried putting me in the gutter and well he understood english so I got a nasty look. Lesson learned, don't swear at the Koreans as they typically understand at a minimum the english cuss words. I ended up staying with the first group and gave one go at a break away with 2K to go and it lasted all of about 30 seconds, I put about 100M into them and then they reeled me back in. The final stretch got really sketchy so I just hung in the back of the group and let the sprinters go at it. No need to get tangled up and go down when you just take the same finishing time as the group...........Results still aren't up, so I will post some pics and possibly update the results in the morning depending on what time I get up.

The view from the hotel in the morning.........

White Lightning looking good as always ;)
Where is Elmer??? He is hiding behind the jacket changing into his cycling clothes........

Coming back to get waters and use the bathroom......John "The Water Buffalo" brought 6 back up and I was only able to get one or two.

Post race talks........

Didn't realize we were right outside of the "doping control" RV, but I needed a quick recovery ;)

Day 1- TDK

2011-04-15T04:59:00.000-07:00

15 Apr 2011- TDK Day 1-

Well today ended up being an interesting day to say the least. I completed objective number 1 of keeping it on two wheels and not going down. So this is my first official road race and I felt pretty good to say the least. The neutral zone was about 30 miles long, we were cruising around 20-23mph. I played gutter patrol and kept people from coming up the side during the neutral side. After the neutral zone we had 3K till the first climb. It was 3.6K long with average of 8% incline. I made it up to the top of the KOM about 2m40secs down from the leader and then bridged up to some of our "A" team riders. We are split into two teams Storck and Rapha, as only each team can have 8 riders. So the "B" team role has been too support the A team riders. I came down the descent and our climber had went down, so I stopped and gave him my rear wheel as he had flatter/jacked up his rear tire/wheel. This is one of the hardest things I have done, but with cycling and this being a team sport I helped out the team. So un like being the typical selfish triathlete I am and everything about me, I had an eye opening experience today and the benefits of helping other teammates. The one thing about TDK is that our support vehicle can only go as fast as the last rider, so I had to wait 15 minutes for them to arrive. I sat there and had to watch 6 people go down, and they didn't go down easy, they crashed HARD. One of our team members broke his arm and is having surgery on it. Another guy slid 15 feet on his face, it was like a train wreck you don't want to watch but you just can't look away.

So after the wait I got back on the bike and another one of our teammates double flatted and we rode for awhile together. I am training for China still and with that being my A race I wanted to just finish out the stage and get the miles in, plus it was a beautiful day!

We are back at the motel now just relaxing and BSing about life, racing, girls and then of course all the crashes. We just got the results, and WOW our guys took it to the other teams today. Our Team(The A Team) has a 5min55sec lead over the other teams, they take the top 3 guys times from each stage. Our first 3 finished 3rd,4th,11th. We also had 2 guys in the top 3 of the KOM, so all in all a great day! Well other than I am in 116th

Tomorrow is 129K and it is quite flat, so hopefully we can manage the peloton and keep the teams 6 minute lead.

Below are some pics from today and of the stage tomorrow.........And a video from the KOM...I am at 3min20secs in the video:
http://tvpot.daum.net/v/31943776?lu=flvPlayer_out

We are doing a daily series of "Where is Elmer??", so today Elmer "The Flying Ostrich" was hiding behind the foam roller on his bike. Stay tuned for more "Where is Elmer??"

Myself and Mr. Jin Ok Lee (The prior Olympian)

Day 1 Tan Line

The Flying Ostrich's rear wheel, he came out in good shape, but his wheel on the under hand............
Dante our Mechanic........And the awesome Korean Food!

Richard the Rabbit's elbow, he got taken out with 7K to go.....

Elevation Chart from Today w/ heart rate.

Results from the TDK page.
Stage 2 Elevation Chart and Map

2011 TDK Preview

2011-04-12T05:30:00.000-07:00

12 Apr 2011- Well I mentioned in my previous blog that I will be racing in the 2011 Tour de Korea "Special" Division. This is the amateur division of the TDK, but is still a 9 day stage race like the pros, just a little shorter each day. I will be racing on Team Storck/Rapha out of Seoul. Our team is comprised of both Koreans and Foreigners. We have 4 Americans on the team, myself, John, Nathan and Richard. We also have an Irish fella, Peter "Honey Badger" Tuhoy and a South African Elmer "The Flying Ostrich" Pieterse. We are still working on nicknames for everyone else, but Elmer got his because of his tiny little Ostrich legs and Peter because we found a funny YouTube Video about the "Honey Badger" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4r7wHMg5Yjg) and how "It don't give a shit" and "Its a Bad Ass". For the Korean guys we have: A former Olympian who is now 50+ and kicks my ass, Mr. Lee , Jin Ok. Pablo who is the Storck Store Owner and also owns all the Harley Davidson shops in Korea. Chae and Kaiden, both who weigh nothing and fly up the hills. There is also Chris, who is a Pro Golfer and great cyclist, and finally the mystery men who I have yet to meet, some young guys and one "sprinter" who apparently has calfs bigger than my quads put together. Now a little bit about the race: 9 Stages Total Distance 854.9K Longest Stage 129.6K Shortest Stage 47.7K Prize Money? YES KOM? YES Some of you know that I have only been around the sport for a mere 3 years. This June will mark a complete 3 years since I have been competing. I have never done a "bike race" other than the 2 hill climbs. I have a lot to learn over the next 9 days, is a stage race ideal? NO! I look at it as I will have to learn quick to be successful, but I feel that I am in some great shape right now and can help the team out in the overall standing. I am not going into this race for myself to get recognized on the podium, I look forward to being the work horse that brings my fellow teammates that have been focusing purely on cycling to the podium. We have a very talented team and I believe we are already targeted by some of the other teams. I am super stoked about his and am really looking forward to my first road race/stage race! I have been fortunate enough to get the time off of work to participate in this race and am really looking forward to it. I have consulted with my coach and we both agree it is not the best idea as I will not be able to swim for 10 days, but I do plan on running here and there. I look at it as 10 days to focus on just training/racing and recovering. You can't really ask for much more. I will come off of these 9 days with a once in a life time experience and have seen parts of Korea some people will never see and make some great friends throughout the trip. I know going into this that it is a risk, but I take risk everyday going out for a run or a ride. You never know what is going to happen, so seize the moment and take advantage of the opportunities that are placed in front of you. If you want more information about the race check out the site: www.tourdekorea.or.kr. If you are in Korea the easiest stage to come watch from Osan/Seoul will be on April 24th in Seoul, it finishes at Olympic Park. Shoot me an email if you are interested and I can send you details on how to get up there.

Chris (The Pro Golfer)

Myself, Richard, Pablo, John

The Prize Money, 1,000W=1USD, close enough. So yeah $10,000 USD to WIN the team GC.

The Schedule

The Map.........

Misiryung Hill Climb......2 for 2 within seconds

2011-04-12T04:55:00.000-07:00

10 April 11- Sokcho South Korea

Well it is 5 days out from the Tour de Korea, so off we headed to Sokcho for a 20K Hill Climb. O yeah I forgot, this is the first some of you are hearing about Tour de Korea. I will be racing the Tour de Korea's "Special" race (Amateur Division). It is a 9 day stage race that has one rest day, so it is 10 days total. More to come on the TDK in my next blog. The Hill Climb was a team bonding/race prep for TDK.

Sokcho is about 4 hours from Osan and about 3 hours from Seoul. We headed over there Saturday and did one repeat of the mountain and a little more riding just to get some miles in. We had a total of 14 people that went and 10 of us were racing. It is quite amazing out in Sokcho as the ocean is right there and the water is really nice out there. It was quite windy though, which made things a little difficult while up on the mountain.

During our ride up the mountain on Saturday myself and Elmer saw a Korean MTB'er come flying down the mountain and about kill himself as he skidded out of control and crashed head/shoulder first into a concrete wall. He bounced up quite quickly and was dazed and confused on what happened, so me and Elmer helped him out and his helmet was cracked in 2 separate places. The guy was alright luckily, as it could have been a lot worse. After our ride I snuck out for a quick 20 min run. I say snuck out because all these "roadies" think I am crazy for running and swimming leading into a stage race. They all understand what my goals are this year and are still allowing me to race with them, so hopefully I can benefit the team. After the run we went out to dinner at a chicken soup place, it was so far out in BFE that they had to send a car to show us the way. It was alright, but for some reason Korean food doesn't fill me. After dinner we went to E-Mart and picked up groceries for breakfast and then some of us got more stuff for dinner #2. I also picked up some beers to enjoy, carbo loading is a key point to pre race prep ;)

After the beers and dinner #2 we sat around and BS'd about life in general and racing. Ended up hitting the sack around 10 and was woken up at 3am to some crazy noises outside. I woke up and the wind was howling outside and the flags outside the hotel were whipping around crazily. It was pretty crazy to think that we were going to race the next day in the same conditions. Sure enough when I got up 3 hours later it was still the same
and I was surprised the flags were still attached to the flag pole.

We rode over to the race and the team event went off first. Our team had 5 guys in that event, with 2nd-4th place times being added up and used for the winner of the team event. They ended up winning the team event and brought home 1 million won (about $950USD). Then we had 5 of us in the AG division. I was the youngest and our AG went off first. It was nice to of already pre rode the course and know how it was going to be. I had asked before hand and was told it was timing off the gun, not chip time. So no strategy needed for the start, just be the first person up the mountain, simple enough. So off I went the first 5K was pretty flat with some false flats in there. I stayed mid pack and then slowly worked my way up before the climb. I started the climb in 5th place and stayed there for quite some time. At 35 minutes in I was 35 seconds down on two guys that got away, and was hoping they would bonk later in the climb. With 1K to go I had moved up to 2nd and was 19 seconds down. The game breaker came when we got to a section of straight up the 20-25% grade or take the outside which was about 10-15%. I had spoken early that night with John about tactics on hill climbs and what lines to take. So obviously the inside lane with the steep grade is the shortest distance, and I had to make a move to make up time so I took that line and the other guy had taken the outside line. I made up about 10 seconds with that and then had about 800M to go of a more gradual up hill. With about 400M to go some guy started running besides the guy that was leading and telling him he was #1, he failed to look back and see me coming for about 2 seconds then when he realized I had a slight chance of catching him started yelling at the guy to do something, not sure what cause it was all in Korean, but I assume it was something to the effect of "YOU BETTER GO FASTER HE IS COMING". Seeing that guy run beside him lit a fire and I chased down this guy and made a strong move past him putting about 5 seconds into him and crossing the line first. Well come to find out beating someone by 5 seconds isn't enough when they start 6 seconds behind you. Lone and behold it was chip timing and not gun time :( So I ended up 2nd in my AG out of 57, but it was a great confidence booster and confirmed to myself that my legs are in some serious shape right now.

I want to give a big thanks to everyone that made this weekend possible: Team Storck/Rapha, Jeremy Moon (our team manager), Helen for taking pictures, Megan for tagging along and crushing the climb with us on Saturday, and everyone else that continues to support me.

Next up TDK........................

At the top on Saturday

Went back to the Statue from the Triathlon and found my name on it :)

About 2K to go!

BRUTAL!

That is part of the route.........

Singapore 70.3-Hot/Humid and FAST

2011-03-27T02:30:00.000-07:00

20 Mar 11- Singapore 70.3

Well I have decided to turn this into a 2 part blog. The first part will be about the race and the second part I will write about my travels and fun in Singapore. But first off, thanks to everyone for all the birthday wishes and good luck leading up to the race. Getting older is never fun, but especially the years that you have to age group up. This is the first time I have had to experience this and well instead of racing in a "small" young age group there were 98 people entered in my age group. The biggest AG field I have had to compete against. The one disadvantage I will struggle with throughout these next couple of years is I am "young" in the age group and some of the guys will have been at the sport for quite some time by the time they are in there late 20's. All this means is I will have to train harder and of course smarter, so with that being said I stepped up 2011 with some changes which I have already mentioned. Having a coach was the biggest change, and looking below at the race report I hope that you can see the big difference in the swim, bike, and a small change on the run.

Swim- This past winter has been a big change for me. I have been swimming quite a bit and showed up hoping for a good swim "time". I knew it would be a little skewed and slower than expected due to the fact that it was a non wetsuit swim. I made sure and prepared for the non-wetsuit swim and hooked up with Kiwami USA and had an Amphibian speed suit made, I need all the help I can get when it comes to swimming. I had a good start and found some clean water. There were a couple waves that started ahead of us but there was a 5min gap. About 600 meters into the swim is when I hit the first part of bad traffic and had to start swimming through people. It was a 2 loop course and I came out of the first looped and looked down and saw 18:30 on my watch, man was that a heart breaker. I felt like I was exerting a lot of energy and swimming "strong", but the time was reflecting that. I went out for the second loop and it was really congested. I was climbing, crawling and just trying to flat out avoid people. For some reason it must have been a different race for a lot of people because I missed the message that it was the 1.9K breast stroke world championships. I feared getting kicked the whole time and really started getting concerned about taking a low blow and being in a lot of pain. I swam cautiously for the last 1/4 of the swim and tried to avoid people at all cost. Ended up coming out of the water and my watch said 38:XX.
Official time- 39:17-69th Overall Amateur/9th Age Group

Bike- The off season also had a strong focus on the bike. I knew it was going to be flat and feared there would be a lot of drafting going on. Being at Clearwater in 2009 I knew if I was surrounded by others drafting I would join in, luckily I was never caught by a pack or approached a big pack. I am proud to say that I rode a clean race and was never behind anybody by 7 meters for longer than 20 seconds, those are the drafting rules. YES, I did slingshot A LOT of people but that is legal. I would often wave as the groups of people going in the opposite direction went by in there packs of 10-30 riders. It pissed me off to see it, but I knew ahead of time it was going to happen. I passed a few 4-5 persons group on the last lap and asked them to get a little closer to each other because there was only 1 meter and that at ½ a meter you get a better draft. They just looked at me like I was crazy for riding solo. I thought that is how triathlon was suppose to be ;) So moral of the story is my bike strength has came a long ways since November 2009. I rode faster than I did in Clearwater by 27 seconds, but I rode solo this time instead of in a pack. I felt strong and confident on the bike and really watched my watts and nutrition. I believe those were two key factors too why I ended up with the fastest bike split in my age group, yep 1st out of 99 :).
Official Time- 2:16:05-24th Overall Amateur/1st Age Group

Run- And the one thing I have just tried to maintain over the winter and not put a big focus on. Well it is the one thing that bit me in the behind. Because I didn’t concentrate on it? NO, because I was unprepared for the heat and it got to me. I still had the fastest HIM run split to date and was still happy with how I ran. The one thing I was depending on was to get some cola within the first couple K as advertised but couldn’t find any at the stops. Luckily for the first 10K sponges were abundant and I was able to get my body temp down. The last 10K however sponges started running out and it was a battle with the heat. I sucked it up for the last 7K and just focused on putting one foot in front of the other and getting to the finish line. Around 5K in the run the guy that took second in my age group ran by me. He thought he was a wise fella and asked me how old I was (the ages weren’t on our calf like normal) and I told him I was 25. He said “good” I am 30, I was happy because he was really moving. Not even 10 seconds later Whit Raymond, the announcer, say “There goes Preddy, he will be on the podium today in the 25-29 AG, he is a fast 25 year old”. That got me pretty heated, I mean great tactics on his part but shit lying straight to my face about how old you are? Funny thing is I was starting to run him down towards the end and I didn’t even know it, he finished 25 seconds up on me. So in finish chute there he was waiting for me and said congrats and good race. I chuckled and said thanks and then in a jokingly way “Yeah good race you 25 year old ASS HOLE, can’t believe you lied to me. Well played my friend”. No hard feelings he just taught me a new trick ;)
Official Time- 1:35:44- 24th Overall Amateur/6th Age Group

I was really happy with the outcome of the race and couldn’t of asked for anything to go better. Other than the heat, but I believe I perform well in the heat so I can’t complain about it too much. The guys that came up from Australia and who were from Singapore definitely had an upper hand as they have had the heat to train in, as where I had only seen one weekend over 50 since November. I can’t thank everyone enough who has supported me throughout this journey. From family to friends to training partners, it has been one heck of a journey and I can’t wait for this upward slope that it is on to continue upwards.

Official recap below of all race times:
S- 39:17-69th Overall Amateur/9th Age Group
B- 2:16:05-24th Overall Amateur/1st Age Group
R- 1:35:44-24th Overall Amateur/6th Age Group
Total- 4:34:49-19th Overall Amateur out of approx 1500/3rd Age Group out of 98

The bike all race ready!

Transition area setup and ready to go.

Very cool shot, don't know why I was the center of attention but it was titled "Start Stopwatch" on Flickr.

Wish I could say the Kiwami Amphibian made me "fast" but it sure did put me further up in my AG out of the water than I expected!

Under the Amphibian I had the Kiwami Konami. Great one piece for a hot day, Kiwami did an amazing job on the custom work on both suits!
Out on the bike........
I guess i was feeling good at this point......
A little more painful at this point.
And its over.........
I think I should of finished 2nd, would of had a cute girl to share 2nd with ;) The first place guy didn't show up, and that is "Preddy" all dressed up.

Singapore 70.3 Pre-Race

2011-03-18T22:53:00.000-07:00

19 Mar 2011-

Well first off I now am officially 1/4 of a century OLD, yes I said old. I was reminded of this when I skyped with my mom this morning, as it was still my birthday back in the states. So with that comes age grouping up, I guess you can say I am becoming a big boy and having to race with the men now and not the college/young guys. Believe it or not as you age group up in triathlon it gets tougher until you reach the 45-49 age group, and even then things still aren't easy. So tomorrow will be the true test of how this age grouping up thing goes.

Over the past couple months I have been coached by Scott DeFilippis, a Pro Triathlete on Team TBB(www.teamtbbcoaching.com). The team started an online coaching service late last year and I jumped on board in December. I realized to continue to progress in the sport and be successful I needed more structure and someone to keep an eye on my training other than myself. I use to just go out and run or go out and ride. And then the mediocre tossing and turning I was doing in the pool, I guess you could call that swimming. I had first realized what structure could do for me when I sat down with Elissa when I was back in Turkey and laid out a marathon plan. Having an experienced athlete/coach sit down and lay things out for you makes a huge difference. After that I realized that a coach for triathlon was a step I needed to make.

With the change in place a lot of pieces to the puzzle have fallen into place. I have been fortunate enough to be surrounded by great athletes and people that have helped me in many ways. A CAT 1 and CAT 3 cyclist are both at Osan right now and I have been lucky enough to ride with them on a consistent basis, thanks Zach and Aaron for putting up with a tri guy! I was also lucky enough to come across a great swimmer that has helped me with my stroke and then just constantly kicking my ass day in and day out in the pool. Unfortunately Traci is going to be gone for the summer and not be able to continue to help me, but she will be back in the fall and we will pick up where I left off. Over the past 4 weeks an AF Marathon/Cross Country team member was TDY to Osan. It was nice getting in a few runs with Jason and showing him the ropes of Korea and how awesome the racing is. Can't wait for him to get back out here so we can terrorize the Korean running scene. Thanks for the ass kicking Jason! Then of course having Scott as a coach has been the biggest change. Knowing that someone is there that reviews your plan and your workouts and puts things into place to help you improve is awesome. I still have to put in the work, but having a structure plan with a purpose is the thing that has helped the most. Then knowing that he is checking my workouts makes me accountable for putting in the work. With all of this happening I believe I am in the best shape I have been in, and I am here in Singapore ready to prove to myself that the hard work has paid off.

The plan for tomorrow is to go out and execute the race plan. I have been putting a lot of time in the pool, but I still am just trying to survive the swim and then get out and have a solid bike and run. The humidity has been bearable here, I thought it would be a lot worse. I think I will be alright considering the heat/humidity, but you never know what race day can bring. I just plan to go out tomorrow and to give it my all that is really all that I can guarantee. I can guarantee that and that I am racing for more than myself, I am racing with a purpose. Since I have started racing for more than just myself the races have been more meaningful and satisfying.

Today marks a special day, it is a good friend of mines birthday. She is no longer here with us, but I miss her quite a bit and think about her from time to time. It seems like it was just yesterday that myself and April were headed to watch our friends play in the HS Football All Star game. When we were headed out Patterson we got too a bad accident just before Mchenry. The road was closed and they made us take a side street. I remember telling April that it had to of been a really bad accident, and more than likely a fatal since they had shut the road down. Little did we know that it was one of the nicest, most caring people in our senior class. We had just graduated a month or so prior and had been fortunate enough to not lose any of our close friends through all of HS. We didn't find out till we got to the game that it was Kristina, and it hit all of us really hard. It was one of the hardest loses I have been through, other than my Grandpa. So tomorrow I will race for "K", also known to me as beautiful. We would always see each other at school and I would call her beautiful and she would call me handsome, just our little nicknames. My buddy was dating her and he didn't mind as we always managed to put a smile on each others faces.

I will also be racing tomorrow for my boss's son. My boss left work on Wednesday to head back to the states to be with his family. His kid had come down with bronchitis or pneumonia, not exactly which one it was but if I remember he is only 6 or 8 and one of his lungs had filled up with liquid and had then collapsed. I have not got an update since I left, but I continue to pray for his child and his family. I can only hope for the best and will race hard tomorrow for both of these people.

Well now that the sad part of the blog is out of the way, I have been enjoying Singapore. Yesterday I got out for an easy ride and rode along the coast. I also found a local pool and swam there twice. It was an interesting experience as it had no lane buoy lines and they would not let me use paddles. Other than that it was a very nice pool and only about 0.80 cents to swim there. Today I went down to transition area and checked the bike in and got an easy swim in. It wasn't too far from the hotel, maybe 8-10K so just a short ride. I have found free internet in the hotel, from someones router close to the hotel, but they turn it off during the day for some reason so I am using internet at an internet cafe. Only $1.50 an hour so very reasonable compared to the hotel where they want $2 for 15 mins. It has been nice to just relax and be completely stress free.

Well if you have read down the blog this far then you can find out about tomorrows race ;) You can track the race at www.ironmanlive.com, bib number 364. Race starts at 0820 Singapore time which is: 420pm West Coast time, 720pm East Coast time, 720am Korea time.

I will add some pictures tonight when I get back to the hotel. Thanks again for all the continued support, with out great family/friends I would not be who I am today or where I am today. Thanks again!

First race of 2011, within seconds.......

2011-03-02T04:08:00.000-08:00

20 Feb 11- Seoul Korea-

Well to start off the 2011 season I set out to run a half marathon up in Seoul. One of the best days weather wise to have race for this part of the year, so the day started out great with awesome weather. The morning was a little chilly and down in the 40's but by the end of the race I think we may have reached low 50's with a light wind. Training has been going good up to this point, thanks to having a great coach and structure in my training. I will blog more about how the whole being coached online is sometime in the near future.

I went into the race with a plan that coach had laid out and if executed properly I could PR by a few seconds. I looked at this as being a little optimistic for this early in the season and wanted to just put in a solid workout, which meant executing the plan. I went out nice and "slow" for the first 5K and sped up throughout the remained of the race. I ran with a Korean lady who normally wins the female overall title at a majority of the half marathon races. I stuck with her till the half way point, just by coincidence. This is when I started feeling good and was able to drop down to where I needed to be. I missed my mark at the 15K split by about 25 seconds, and knew the next 5K was where I was going to make some money on people. I had paced right and felt good going into the last 5K. Then came the wall, no not the normal wall that hits during a marathon but the wall of people.

Korea is known for having many races on one course, remember back to when I got lost ;) Well they had a 10K, 1/2 Marathon, 32K and Full Marathon all on the same running path along the Han River. The 32K/Full went out the opposite direction but ended up coming back in our direction on the same out and back section we had ran on. So we had 32K/Full runners head at us and then the best part was the 10K runners who were say 55:00 to 1:05 pace 10K'ers running with us. All on what you could possibly squeeze 4 people in each lane and maybe one skinny guy down the middle. Well in Korea I wouldn't consider myself skinny, so trying to squeeze down the middle lane was where the fun began. For the last 5K I had to fight traffic in both directions and avoid hitting people coming at me and avoiding to run over people moving with me, but at a slower pace.

Lets just say the last 5K I did not run the pace I needed to to execute the plan, could I of if there wasn't a human traffic jam for the last 5K? Who knows, but what I do know is that if I would of seen someone from my race within striking distance I would have ran them down. So to the next point, the course was so crowded I had no clue where anyone was. I knew I was sitting in the top 10 but couldn't see anyone identifiable in front of me from my race. There was way too many 10Kers to identify if there was a half person ahead. Long story short, I missed 5th place by 6 seconds and 4th by 26 seconds. Could I of ran down 4th? Who knows, but I am pretty sure I would of caught that guy that was 6 seconds up. What did I miss out on? A pretty cool trophy and a $200 fuji digital camera :( What to do differently next time, run hard the whole way so you can't complain about missing top 5 by 6 seconds.

Time- 1:20:34
Overall-6th/838
Pace- 6:09min/mil

Everything is about the experience and what you gain from it, so missing that by 6 seconds was a great learning experience that I will remember for awhile. Below are some pictures of the race courtesy of Michael Onofray, who was kind enough to take pictures and cheer us on instead of tearing up the race course. Congrats to my new friend Jason Brosseau on his first race in Korea and his first win in Korea! He runs for the AF Marathon and Cross Country Team and is out here for a few weeks working. It is amazing how small the AF is as we both have a lot of the same friends and know a lot of the same people.

Pre Race pics
Trying to look over and see if a guy that was running "fast" was a 10Ker or half marathoner. He was only a 10Ker.

Coming down the finishing chute. Olypmic Stadium track!

Drinking some Hammer Recoverite and working on my tan. Some French dude later told me to put my shirt on because it wasn't poper. Where in the world are people not tanning in February, I thought 50 degrees and sunny was ideal temps for it ;) Needless to say I respected my elder and put my shirt back on. He did however beat me in the race and is probably in his 50's. When I congratulated after the race he acted like he didn't understand me, but he sure spoke clear English when telling me to put my shirt on.

Post race talk with Norah the Great! She told off the French dude when I was grabbing my shirt to put back on. Wish I would of stuck around to listen to him get chewed out by her. Thanks Norah for having my back!

2010 in Review

2011-02-12T03:48:00.000-08:00

11 Feb 11- Osan AB, South Korea-

Well it has been over a month now since the new year and I have put this off far too long. So with the new year well underway I figured I better do a quick review of 2010. It was an interesting year which had its ups and downs, but mostly ups.

Well the start of 2010 was interesting, in Turkey, the land of NO racing. I believe 2010 was a year that I had little motivation in the beginning of the year due to knowing there was not a lot of racing to look forward to. I mean I had Wildflower to look forward to and that was a good way to start the year, but the middle of the year was dull in the sense of racing. I took that time to really focus and train for marathon #3 and the return to Korea. I knew coming back to Korea would offer me the option to race A LOT. That was probably the one thing that hurt going into the marathon was that I raced a lot leading into it. I needed those races though to feel fulfilled for the year, I just didn't get enough in early in the year and enjoy racing and being able to compete more than anything.

A few things I learned through 2010 was that if I dedicated myself to something I can achieve my goals. Going Sub 3 at the Chuncheon Marathon was the big goal of the year, after not being able to attend AF Marathon. I put in the miles and had a good plan going in, thanks to Elissa. Training in Turkey went great for the marathon due to having a consistent training partner who was able to push me on a daily/weekly basis. I concentrated on getting the work done and actually focused on going sub-3. My other marathons were more less spur of the moment, under trained lets see what I can do races. Chuncheon I had a purpose going there, I wanted to show that I had put in the work and I proved to myself that hard work pays off.

So with accomplishing that I wanted to reach for something bigger in 2011. I wanted to step up and go the full distance in Triathlon and attempt my first IRONMAN. I am a little young and under experienced in the sport overall, so I knew some things would have to be done to make this a successful attempt. I have signed up with Team TBB Online Coaching and am now being coached by Scott Defilippis. This all started in December of 2010, and what a difference having a coach makes. I will write a seprate blog about having an online coach soon. So at the end of 2010 I started focusing on 2011. Below are some goals for 2011, in order of importance athletically:

-Arrive to IM China in good health to compete in my first IM
-Finish my first IM
-Finish in the top 10 in all races entered throughout Korea
-Win an Overall Olympic Distance Race in Korea
-Qualify for Kona (not by rolldown)
-Go Sub 10 at IM China

This year the focus is obviously on IM China(and hopefully Kona). A lot of people have said just concentrate on finishing your first IM, well I am going full steam ahead and wanting more than to just finish. I have set high goals and hope to achieve my goals by being prepared for anything that the year throws at me. Staying focused throughout this year and managing my time will be the key to success this year. I am trying to juggle a full time military job (which in Korea can mean working 7-20 days straight at times, 12 hour days), completing 8 college classes this year, and training 12-20 hours a week. So to say the least I have a full plate.

Here is a brief review on some stats from 2010:

2010 Race Statistics 1 Jan-31 Dec

23 Races Entered

8 Overall 1^st Place Wins

5 Age Group Wins

14 Top 5’s

Races Entered Breakdown

1 Track Meet

2 5K’s

4 10K’s

3 ½ Marathons

1 8 Mile Time Trials (Bike)

1 20K Hill Climb (Bike)

2 Sprint Duathlons

2 Sprint Triathlons

3 Olympic Distance Triathlons

1 Half IM’s

1 Full Marathon

Training Stats 1Jan10-31Dec10

Swim- 58.8 Miles/94.6KM’s/34h43m

Bike- 2,629 Miles/4,231KM’s/151h34m

Run- 1,116.8 Miles/1,797KM’s/142h03m

Total-3,805.6 Miles/6,124KM’s/328h20m/13d16h19m

Some interesting things about the above data: I decreased my bike mileage quite a bit and did not feel like I lost a lot of fitness on the bike. My run mileage increased by quite a bit and I gained a lot of speed and fitness on the run. My swim mileage is more of something like what a kid in elementary school swims on his/her club team. In the first 42 days of this year I have already swam half of what I did last year, so I know where my weakness is and I am now putting in the work to improve my swim.

Overall I believe 2010 was a great year considering how it started and where I was. Coming back to Korea was something that I really appreciated and knowing that I am in a place that I can succeed surrounded by some great people. I can't wait for the 2011 race season to start and get things rolling.

Thanks again to all of the support from family, friends and fellow competitors. As long as I can inspire people to be active and live a healthy lifestyle I feel that I have accomplished something. Thanks again for all of the support!

Below are some pictures from throughout the year:

At UVAS OLY Tri getting the bike ready with my Dad.

Probably the highlight of my year. Seeing my 7 year old little sister run a 9 minute mile and win her race!

The family post Wildflower. Was glad that my Aunt, Uncle and cousins finally were able to see me race.

First race back in Korea. Awesome Triathlon monument as well, my name should now be on the back of the monument with my AG win there.

Chuncheon around mile 10.

XMas Eve Macgyver Project

2010-12-27T17:27:00.001-08:00

24 Dec 10- Osan AB South Korea

Well XMas eve brought me an SRM in the mail that I had ordered about a month prior. I had mailed it to my buddy Eric who lives in Colorado near the SRM shop. I had the batteries replaced in both the computer and cranks. Thanks to Eric it saved me some time and headache of having them shipped here first then having to ship them back to the states.

Since it was my first SRM I had my buddy Zach come over and help me out so I didn't screw anything up. It took us about an hour and a half to get it all hooked up and ops checked. A little longer than expected but it worked and we didn't have any major problems. Being a triathlete for some reason I wanted to be a perfectionist and make sure all the wires were routed cleanly and that it looked clean.

I really didn't think about getting rid of my Garmin Forerunner 305, but hadn't really thought about where it was going to go on the tri bike. Once we had it all setup is when I started thinking about how I was going to get my "cockpit" all setup on the tri bike. With nothing better to do on Xmas eve the project began........

Step 1- Remove 305 quick release kit from the stem and figure a way to get it up in between the bars.
Step 2- Remove water bottle holder in between aero bars and reverse it to where the bottle ejects towards my body.
Step 3- Hook the SRM Computer (PCV) up with velcro on the back and put velcro on the aero bars.
Step 4- Had to undo all the bar tape on the aero extensions and jimmy rig up some zip ties to the aero extensions for the quick release bike mount.
Step 5- Re-wrap the extensions and make sure everything was in place and worked properly.

The whole process ended up taking about 45 minutes once I had figured out how I wanted it.

Below are some pictures of the before and after. When I re wrap the bars and re route cables before the beginning of the season I will take photos of each step.

The before setup. Garmin Forerunner 305 setup on the stem with the quick release kit. Bottle cage is just zip tied to the aero extensions

The new setup with the 305 at the top, then the PCV and then the water bottle now exiting towards the back.
The two red zip ties are where I had them on the old setup except they wrapped around the stem. Now they are just there and each zip tie on the aero extensions hold it in "air". It leans quite a ways forward and you have to pull it back towards you to mount the 305 in the quick release and then it sits fine in between the bars. My bars are a little narrower than the 305, and this might be why it works so well.
The bottom view of the zip ties.

The next project was to hook up the wiring harness to my road bike. The second harness I had did not have the nice mounting bracket that the first one had. The normal bracket is easily attached under the bottom bracket with the screw that is used to route your derailleur cables. I couldn't figure out what else to use so I came up with an initial plan of using zip ties.

I took two small zip ties and slid them through the two holes in the magnet pickup device. I then slid them under the bottom bracket mount that is already there for the cables to be routed. I then tightened down the screws and it held the sensor in place just fine. Once I put the cranks on zip tie heads rubbed on the cranks so that idea was out the window.

Next I walked around the room and thought about what else I could possibly use to make a mounting bracket. Well on Xmas eve you get some crazy ideas. I looked at my floss plastic case and figured if I cut it apart I could possibly make it into a bracket. Using limited tools of a cable cutter and knife I went to work. I cracked the first side I was going to use and ended up getting stuck with the back of the case as my only option.

I sculpted it out into what is similar to a field goal shape. At the end of the "posts" I made the end larger though so that it would keep the sensor in place and would not slip out. The bracket is kind of big but I didn't want to crack it and figured it could possibly work. Sure enough after a lot of cutting and sculpting I had a final product. I hooked it up and eye balled where I needed to put a whole so that the screw would hold it in place. I used the knife and put a whole in the "bracket" and screwed it in. Put the cranks on and luckily nothing rubbed and the sensor was picking up cadence and power once I got it on the trainer.

So if you have time on your hands and want a late night project take a floss case and a few tools and have at it. Beats spending $70 on a new wiring harness and new version of the bracket or maybe I just don't know where there is an accessory that makes the old harness work.

The floss case that I used:
Below are some pictures of the bracket:

The final project was done some time ago, but post keep popping up on Slowtwitch in regards to bottle setups for different races. I figured I would add my setup to this blog so that if people wanted a reference with pictures I could just post this link.

I have taken a cheap Profile Designs water bottle for my rear mount (Excel Sports has them for $5.95) This back bottle holds a multi tool, tube, pump, C02 cart, and C02 Adapter. I also have a spare tube under my ISM Adamo Saddle. I took 4 zip ties and hooked the cage up to the seat post. Two of which are hooked just on the bottle cage in a vertical manner. The other two go from the two on the bottle cage to the two holes in the seat post. Below are two pictures of the setup.

I then use the setup pictured above for my cockpit setup. In that water bottle I keep my electrolyte drink which is either Cytomax or Hammer Heed to start with. After that I use whatever they have on course.

I then have one bottle in the downtube which I use as a concentrated Perpetum or Sustatined Energy bottle. It holds all of my calories with 4 scoops and then 2 gel servings. Below is a picture of the overall setup, prior to my cockpit setup up front changing.

I use this setup for 70.3's/Half Ironmans and plan on using it for my first full IM in May. I will have an extra concentrated bottle for my downtube at special needs.

When I race Oly/Sprints I take the rear bottle off and move the tools to the downtube and just have a single bottle of Hammer Heed or Cytomax in the aero bars.

If you have any questions about any of the above setups feel free to email me and I can take more detailed photos or answer any questions.

Sleep Deprived 10K/Merry XMas Training

2010-12-27T16:55:00.000-08:00

18 Dec 2010- Seoul South Korea

Well I have been on night shift for the past couple of weeks now and had previously signed up for this race thinking that I was off the night after the race. I was hoping to get out of work a little early and be able to sleep a couple hours prior to the race, but like the past race I tried to attend the crazy Chongger up North decided to ruin my plans. This time I decided I can't have my life controlled by some crazy guy up North and would go crazy if I kept missing races.

I ended up not getting out of work early and still had to work the night when I got back from the race. The race was on Sunday at 10 am. Saturday I had got up at noon to get out for a 3 hour group ride with the guys which departed at 1. Upon arriving back to base I headed into work from 1800-0600 and then came home and packed up to head up to Seoul for the race. A new girl here runs for the AF Cross Country Team and AF Marathon team and it was going to be her first race in Korea. I was waiting at Starbucks for her and sure enough she slept through her alarm. Luckily I plan accordingly for these kinds of things when traveling with anyone else to races, especially females ;)

About 30 minutes later than expected we departed for our adventure up to Seoul. Two train transfers later and we were right at the race start, it was literally right outside the train stop. It was a cold morning with temps down in the low 30's. The course was an out and back along the han river. There was still some spots of snow/ice which made for a lack of traction and some taking it easy spots during the run. They had a marathon and half that day as well and they took off ahead of us.

We started 5 minutes after them which meant we had to weave through quite a few runners until the turn around. I started out a little too fast and split a 5:36 first mile and then a 5:55 second mile. After that I settled into low 6 minute miles and ran in the top 5 the whole race. I tried to put on a surge with about 1 mile to go and just couldn't catch the 3rd/4th place guys. They ended up about 200 meters or less up on me and I ended up finishing 5th. It was a PR for me with a time of 37:10. I was really pleased with this considering the lack of sleep and the course conditions along with temps.

Time- 37:10
Overall- 5th/Approx 200-300 runners

Well I had a workout scheduled for Christmas since I knew I was going to be off that day and figured I could get in a good long workout. Luckily there are other people out there as crazy as me believe it or not. My buddy Zach came over and we put in a solid 2 1/2 hours on the trainer while watching the Kona broadcast. Nothing better than getting in a good workout while sitting there watching coverage of a place you dream of being in 10 months. After the ride I finished off the workout with a 30min run. Wasn't a bad way to start Christmas. Following the run I got in my days sleep of about 4 hours and then headed down to the VFW for the Christmas feast.

The VFW has been my place away from home during the holidays. They always have a great spread of food and always a good group of people down there for Christmas and Thanksgiving. I went down there with a few friends and it was a good time.

Below are some pics from the 10k:

To the left in the picture is Norah the speed demon from Seoul Flyers. She has been undefeated this season as far as I know. She makes a nice little earning by kicking butt in races. The guy in the red to the right in the picture won the race in low 33's.

Coming down the last 100 meters.

Glad to be done and ready to get some sleep, ended up getting 3 hours of sleep prior to work. That was a long 12 hour shift that night!

A Couple Races in One Blog

2010-12-14T10:28:00.001-08:00

Well since Chuncheon a lot of my plans have kind of fell through. I came up with this crazy idea to run 2 marathons 3 weeks apart. Sounded like a good challenge since I couldn't find an Ultra for the end of the year. The original goal was to run 2 sub 3 marathons 3 weeks apart. Then reality hit and I was going to shoot for 2 Boston Qualifiers in 3 weeks. So I started the training plan for that and I had a lot of soreness. I ran a half the weekend after Chuncheon as a long training run for the week and just took in the sites and stopped and ate at all the aid stations. I hit the split I wanted and enjoyed the day. After that my IT band was giving me some problems, so I took it easy. I figured rest was better than an injury going into a 2nd marathon that soon. Race weekend was approaching and I still wasn't feeling great. I got a phone call about a bike race that was 70K and figured I would do that with less impact on the IT band. Attempts to get into that last minute failed so back to square one and running the marathon. Getting ready to leave on Saturday to head up there I get a phone call from work. 2 hours before leaving I had to be into work. So it just wasn't meant to be for me to run that marathon. I figured it must of been someone above looking over me.

When that happened I figured it was time to take a "break". I took a whole 8 long painful days off of doing absolutely nothing. I can't say it was great, because in all honesty I was going stir crazy. So to start things of right I did a 5K race on base after my 8 day break.

It was the Turkey Trot and they had a 30 pound turkey up for grabs. So of course I had to run hard, I mean it was a 30 pound turkey for just winning a 5K. I went out hard and was trying to set a new 5K PR, but it was cold and the body just wasn't feeling it. I split a good first mile and then after that I backed off a bit. Ended up 18:18 and was feeling pretty good with that time considering how cold it was and the break that I had taken.

Well I figured there was no better time than to get my first bike race in then this off season. I have been training with a CAT1 cyclist here who rides for the Armed Forces Team. We found a hill climb up in Seoul and headed up there to ride with a foreign cycling team and then do the hill climb the following day. Saturday turned out to be horrible weather, snow, sleet, rain, wind and COLD! It was pretty miserable but we got to pre ride what we thought was going to be the course. Sunday morning it was even colder than the previous day and the race started with a 12K warm up/neutral start. What really sucked was after the 12K they bunched everyone back up and we sat around for 10 minutes before beginning the hill climb. It was only 6K but it was brutal. I got put in my place and the little koreans gave me a lesson in climbing. Overall though I was happy to get my first bike race in and learned some valuable lessons that day.

I am going to close out the year with a 10K this weekend and then the focus begins for 2011. Some of you know what the plan is already and others may have seen it somewhere on here as well. This is officially week 1 of training for the big race in 2011 and things are going good so far. I will post a season recap and 2011 plans here in a few weeks. Big News is coming so come back and read!