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

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.........

2010 in Review

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.