70.3M World Championships - Race Report

Time for the last triathlon of the season and so what better way to finish off than with the World Championships over the 70.3M distance. Besides it was a good excuse to head south for a final few days of warmth before the winter temperatures of the Mid-Atlantic kicked in!

The goal going into the race was to set a personal best and put the "bad" run of last year behind me. Thursday and Friday were just chilling days and putting in some small workouts along with every other pointy headed triathlete along Gulf Boulevard...that's partially the trouble with Clearwater Beach, there aren't many places to ride! We managed to head to some of the usual haunts of the North Redington Beach area such as the Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary and Bad Ass Coffee Company....oh yeah and we met up with Team Banks who had already been sunning themselves in Florida for the past 10 days!

Race morning came along pretty quickly and luckily the 30-34 wave was at 7:10am. Last year I was in the final wave and it seemed like an age that we had to wait around. Going earlier in the day also meant that we would be out front of the rest of the field and hopefully away from the distinct "packs" that can form on the pancake flat bike course.





Beach starts are always cool and this one was no different and we all piled into the water with the cannon ringing in our ears. The swim was as it always is...a bit of a fist fight to start with and then a slight calming down before we catch the racers in the waves in front and you have to negotiate traffic. Although I didn't feel like I had a great swim I came out in just under 30mins and felt as though I hadn't wasted much energy (perhaps I should swim harder!). T1 was a blur and the main thoughts were trying not to slip on the wet ground while running with cleats to the bike mount line (particularly not in front of Team Banks....that would not be cool!).

Knowing the bike course from 2007 was a definite help and with weather conditions relatively similar to last year it was good to know where the wind would be coming from and where the windier sections would be. It was also good to be in the first of the waves as the road ahead was pretty clear and we didn't have hundreds of other racers to contend with. The first hour on the bike went to plan, pushing along at 24MPH and making sure the nutrition plan was to schedule (drink every 15mins and a gel every 30mins). The wind was light all day and so the bike section was a steady effort the whole course.....no major headwinds or tailwinds to speak of.

I was still feeling comfortable at mile 40 and knew that I had a 24MPH ride on the books. Trouble was I had been joined by about eight others from my age-group and despite trying to surge to get rid of the them, they just hung onto my rear wheel. Fortunately the group actually worked legal (i.e. not drafting) for the main part and for the final 15miles I was either trying to get away from them (didn't work!) or was hanging off the back conserving some energy for the run. Many people complain about drafting at this race and later on while on the run course as other riders were coming into T2 I saw some pretty large packs but the guys I was with for the final miles seemed to be doing the right thing and keeping the legal distance. With some 20minutes to go before the run I popped down a pack of my new favorite race foods....Fruit Punch Jelly Belly Beans and begun to think about the run. Coming into T2 I saw Team Banks and I had a 2hr 21mins bike split, ever so slightly slower than last year. I think I could have gone faster in those final 15miles but I didn't want to just pull the rest of the guys along particularly as they were in my age group and so it was a calculated effort to get me into T2 ready to run away from them.



T2 went well and my right bike shoe finally stayed on the bike after the last few races when it kept being flicked off as I dismounted (that's what a little bit of tightening will do!). I came out of T2 like I had stolen something and went through the first mile in 5mins 40secs. Realising that I had started like that last year and then suffered from some stomach issues, I begun to control the pace a bit more and tried to keep at about 6min/miles. The only trouble with that was the 12% climb up and over the Memorial Causeway just before mile 2 but that went well and I knew I had my running legs with me. If you have read my previous race reports from this season you'll know that the run has been without a doubt my strongest portion of the races this year.



The first lap (6.5miles) was perhaps the best I have felt all year in a triathlon and I was consistently at about 6mins 10sec pace. I had my first gel on the run at mile 6 and clocked about 40 minutes for the first lap. At this point I had 43 minutes to get under 4hrs 20mins and a new personal best....it would be close but certainly do-able. Just before the 2nd lap I also saw Kerri heading out onto the run course, unfortunately she was to struggle later on in the run after what looked like a promising finishing time.

On the 2nd lap the miles seemed to be getting further and further apart....had someone moved the mile markers? It wasn't too bad though and it was only about 6mins 30 secs between them. Knowing that I only had one more ascent of the bridge certainly helped and I was also aware that my current pace would get me a new PB for the 70.3M distance....motivation if you ever needed it! The only real trouble I had (aside from general fatigue!) was at about mile 8-10 when I felt as though a stitch was forming every time I had a drink. Luckily this kinda passed after some deeper breaths but would come back at the next aid station after a drink.



So with only a couple of miles to go I needed to keep my 6min 20sec pace to get in under the 4hrs 20mins time and a great end to the season. Coming into the traffic circle and along the finish straight with a slight increase in tempo I crossed the line in 4hrs 19mins 13secs....a 5 minute PB and last years race demons put to rest.

That time put me 30th in age group (out of 141) and 178th overall out of 1,300. A good race and great end to a long but rewarding season.



Just as a side note, if you have never heard of Dick and Rick Hoyt, take a look at the Team Hoyt website. Once again they were racing at Clearwater and no matter how many times I see them it never loses it magic. I first watched an Ironman on TV in 1999 and it was the World Championships from Kona when the Hoyts completed the race. It really inspired me then and still does 10 years later when I get to compete in the same races with them.

World Champs 70.3 - Brief Recap

Just got back to Maryland last night and back to work today so will try and post a full race report in the near future. In brief though I had a good race and managed to post a personal best at 4hrs 19mins 13secs. Good enough for 30th in Age Group (out of 141) and 177th overall (out of 1,300). The run was great and put the demons of last year to rest....1hr 22mins this year :-)

Rest of the trip was great, enjoying the sunshine and beaches.....probably overloaded on sugar and fatty foods over the past two days though!

Race report and pics to come shortly.

Upcoming: 70.3M World Championships.....

The final race of the season is upon us and after Saturday I head into a rest period for about four weeks. The 70.3M World Championships is an odd race really, obviously it was great to qualify and a cool location to finish off the season, but I don't go into the race thinking about winning or getting top five etc. I know that the competition is amazingly strong (last years AG winner is now a pro!) and as such I am racing against myself and aiming to set a personal best at the 70.3M distance. The harder I race the higher in the results I will place but I realise that to be vaguely close to the front of my age group I will need to be in the 3hr 55min - 4hr 5min time range. I'm not there!....yet :-) (15 minutes or so to go!)

So the race will be a last hurrah for the 2008 season and give me a good idea of items to work on as I into head into the winter training phase (although I have a pretty good idea already). Hopefully I'll get a PB and not have a meltdown on the run as I did last year.....

The race will be covered live on ironmanlive.com starting at 6:45am on Saturday Nov 8th.

An Odd Time of Year.......

This time of year is always a bit odd for us triathletes at ABRT. The road racing season is pretty much over and most of the club are looking forward to a bit of downtime and a training break before looking ahead to next season (and the forthcoming End of Season team BBQ). Some are even looking at the silly season of team transfers.....

Us triathletes on the other hand are getting down to the nitty gritty of the season. These are the final weeks that lead us to the major races of a long season whether it be Ironman races, 70.3M World Championships or the World Duathlon Championships. In this regard ABRT are pretty well represented: myself and Kerri Robbins are going down to Clearwater in November for the 70.3 Worlds, and Kerri is also racing at the Duathlon Worlds in Italy (on Sept 27th) to defend her World Title (how cool is that!). In addition Andy McDonald, Ashley Halsey and myself are Ironman racing (Andy and Ashley at the Fall edition of IM Arizona and myself at ChesapeakeMan). It's all go for ABRT triathletes from here until November.....then we can rest and look ahead to next season!

The trouble is by November the group rides will probably be ramping up again as the road racing members will already be itching to go after their end of season break....no easy Saturday group rides to the beach for us then :-(

Eagleman 2008 Race Report - Hell on Earth Edition

The 2008 edition of the Eagleman 70.3M is in the books and will go down as one of the most brutal in race history. The weather forecast was spot on and the temperatures hit the mid 90's with the heat index way over 100....just the weather for a shadeless bike and run!

For me the weekend didn't start too well as I awoke on Saturday morning with a strained neck and could just about turn my head when I was speaking to people....not the ideal scenario when you need to bring your 'A' game to your 'A' race. Fortunately, with the aid of some painkillers and copious amounts of stretching the neck was not so bad by the time Sunday morning came around and didn't factor into my race.

As many of you are probably aware by now, Saturdays generally follow the exact same format for me prior to races and this Saturday was no different except the drive to the race was slightly shorter. After registration, we checked into the hotel, watched Big Brown lose the Triple Crown bid and headed out for dinner in Easton. All the while I was maintaining my fluid levels and as a result making multiple trips to the restrooms! Going to bed at 10PM the temperatures were still in the 80's...race day was going to be HOT!

And hot it was, even when we awoke at 4:30AM it was in the 70's. My race start was 7:08AM and we were the 4th wave of the day, we would be out front with the majority of people chasing after us! The water was just about wetsuit legal (for us amateurs, for the pro's it was a non-wetsuit swim) and as race director Robert Vigorito stated it was like a bath tub. The time seemed to fly by and after saying goodbye to Team Banks, I was in the bath tub and with only a few minutes until the start...would a trip to Hawaii be in the picture by the end of the day!



The swim started well, the water was calm and it was surprisingly not very aggressive in terms of getting hit/kicked/slapped etc. The neck fortunately was not causing me any problems and before long we were catching up with the previous waves. It was an odd swim really and I think that it must have been due to the currents in the Choptank River. The 'out' and 'across' leg seemed to take an age before we hit the final 'in' leg but yet we didn't seem to get much help from the current! I got out of the water in just over 30mins and wasn't exactly too pleased with that...Luckily Sarah had been counting the age group out of the water and I was out in 23th place. Not quite as bad as I had thought but some work to do to get anywhere near where I wanted/needed to be.



The bike started well and I was pushing along at 24-25MPH and passing plenty of people in the earlier waves and before long the road was becoming lonely with the field being pretty well spread. After about 40mins though, a nagging wind begun to kick in and I seemingly lost the 'snap, crackle & pop' that I had earlier and the rest of the ride became a bit of a struggle. For the first time in a long time my back started to stiffen up, which could well have been a side effect of the strained neck and I had to keep stretching. It wasn't all bad though as only a few guys from the later wave had passed me and I had maintained a positive gain of riders in my own age-group. I knew I wasn't going well but was hoping that everyone else was in the same boat and I realised that the run was going to the key to the whole race, especially with the temperatures and humidity rising as the day went on.

Finally coming off the bike I had a 2hrs 26mins split, slower than last year (by about 90 secs) and I wasn't in the best frame of mind as I ran out of transition. Sarah shouted that I was in 14th position (after making up 3 places in transition!) and asked how the bike had gone...I wasn't my usual happy self and responded with a grumpy shrug (and for that I am sorry, I didn't mean to be rude). I was now where I wanted to be, on the run and chasing people down. Within the first two miles I had climbed into 10th place and tried to keep the pace up at 6:25 min/miles, which is slow by usual standards but the heat was amazing! I was putting ice everywhere, under the cap, down the top, carrying it in my hands (which really does help to cool you down). The water stops gradually seemed to be getting further and further apart (they weren't, it just seemed like it!) and by mile 4 there were more than a few people just walking along....it was becoming a matter of finishing rather than racing.



With the run being a pure battle of attrition I knew that if only I could keep moving and not give in to the urge to walk, I could probably gain a number of places. By the turnaround I was into 9th place but runners in front were few and far between......I was running water stop to water stop and was making sure to carry a cup of iced water between stops and that was a huge help. Just by keeping moving I was able to run at about 7:20min/miles. It was odd in that suddenly you would see runners ahead after not seeing them in the distance and then pass them as they either walked or slowly made their way to the finish.....coming into the final 2 miles I had just passed into 7th place and that is where I would stay until the end. A finishing time of 4hrs 36mins....not exactly a day for a PR!. I have never been so pleased to see the finish line, I had somehow managed a 1hr 35min run, the 3rd fastest in the age group and had put myself in with a shot of a Kona slot should they begin rolling down!


[Sarah was so excited to see me come round the corner that my mum can be heard in the background hoping that I knew where I placed and not getting hopes up that I was close to the top 2 spots!....I knew I wasn't :-)]

Standing under the water hose at the finish was so good and after a day of many mixed emotions it was great to end up 7th Age Group and 40th Overall (last year I was 96th overall). Watching people come into the finish though, I have never seen so many people needing IVs or medical attention......this race course is usually tough but on Sunday the weather made it into a day that will be talked about for years.

After recovering and changing, it was time to see if the Kona slots would roll down! Last year the 2nd slot rolled down to 9th. Unfortunately the two slots available were taken by the first two in our age group and so there will be no visit to the Big Island for Team Banks in 2008! We'll be back to try for 2009.....the consolation prize was a slot at the 70.3M World Championships in Clearwater so we will be back down in Florida in November (and besides I have some unfinished business at that race after a poor run last year).

In other Eagleman news, ABRT teammate Kerri Robbins had an amazing race to win her age group. She declined the Kona slot however. Other races conflict with Kona for Kerri and when that race happens to be the World Duathlon Championships where she is reigning World Champion it is hugely understandable...and besides I am certain that Kerri will again win a chance to visit the Big Island!

70.3M World Championships Race Report

The final triathlon of the season is done and dusted, and what a race to finish with...the 70.3M World Championships. If you have read the previous post you will know my finishing time and overall placing. I was just slightly outside of my goal time but it was a good race nonetheless and certainly has given me food for thought as I head towards next season.

After registration on the Thursday I knew that our age group was in the last swim wave at 8:00am....this meant that despite our late start I still had to get up early and make sure that my transition was set-up and ready to rock by 6:45am, just before the first wave of pro women went into the water. Waiting for just over an hour for my start enabled us to watch the pro's exit the swim and head out onto the bike course. It also enabled me to have a warm-up swim (not that it was much of a warm-up, the water although not cold wasn't warm, tepid perhaps!).

With it being the World Championships I knew that the caliber of the field would be high and that the swim start would be a crucial part of the race. The start certainly didn't disappoint and with a "Baywatch" style beach run to get to the water it was chaotic to say the least. A couple of guys to my right fell or tripped as they began and were simply trampled as they went down. I didn't hang around to see what happened but reports were that they eventually hobbled into the surf to start the swim.

So once we got into the water all hell broke loose. This was without doubt the roughest swim I have ever taken part in and that includes Ironman Florida last year when 2500 people entered the water at the same time. There were about 210 people in our swim wave and with it being the World's there aren't a lot of weak swimmers. In total I think I got punched, kicked and slapped about 10 times and coming out of the water my goggles seemed embedded in my eye sockets (it is definitely a good move to put your goggles on underneath the swim cap). Despite getting hit many times I made sure that I got my own back and probably gave as good as I got. I ended up coming out of the water in 29mins 39secs, which I was pleased with. Swimming is my weakest facet of triathlon and will be a major part of the winter training schedule.

Transition 1 was a run up the beach, through the showers and after collecting my bike gear bag it was into the changing tents. Due to having to go into the tents and the relatively long run up the beach it made the T1 time quite long compared to usual. My T1 time was 3mins 40secs rather than a typical 2mins. However, before long I was out onto the bike and buzzing along.


I was looking forward to the bike as the course and weather conditions were great. The only significant obstacle on the course was the short (but stiff...12% grade) climb of the Memorial Causeway as we headed away from the beach and into Pinellas County. Settling into a nice pace I headed through the first 20miles in 50mins and was passing a lot of racers from earlier waves. However, it was during this period that I had to make a major ethical decision. With the course being flat and fast and the high level of racing, there were many racers of relatively comparable ability and this lead to the creation of some large "pelotons" going around the course. A number of times I had blazed past some smaller groups and made a significant effort to separate myself from these racers, only to see them pass me while they latched onto the back of a much larger group of racers. And this is where the decision had to be made.....do I myself latch onto the back of the group and get a much easier ride to T2 (but risk the chance of getting a drafting penalty) or ride my own race, let the group go and then push along on my own. To me there was no real decision and as such I found myself letting the group go and pushing along on my own while riding legal and racing clean.

In the entire 56mile course I didn't see one referee and I have no idea whether any of the large packs were penalized. Despite those issues I had a great ride and even after heading into a stiff headwind through the last 10-15 miles I came into T2 after a 2hrs 20mins ride at just under 24MPH and a new personal best 1/2 ironman bike split. Of course I knew that the hard and fast bike would probably have some effect on my run time and I could have come into T2 much fresher had I followed on the back of the larger groups.

T2 was again slightly longer than usual due to having to go into the changing tents which probably added another minute or so to the overall time. Coming out onto the run course I was looking good to come in under 4hrs 30mins if I could push through.

The first mile was great and was covered in a speedy 6mins 20mins. Leaving T2 it was through the streets of Clearwater Beach where the crowds were huge and it was good to see Team Banks (Sarah and Parents Banks and Toft). The run course was a two-lap affair and included two ascents of the Memorial Causeway (and its 12% grade) every lap. On the first descent of the Causeway I began to have some stomach issues which plagued me for the next 3 miles or so. This dramatically slowed me down and rather than concentrating on my running pace I had to make sure that my breathing was consistent and steady. This didn't bode well for the next 8-9 miles but fortunately the stomach issues relinquished somewhat, so much so that my 2nd lap of the course was faster than the 1st. Coming into the final 3 miles of the run I knew that I would be very close to get in under 4hrs 30mins. I also knew however, that I didn't have enough in me to go hell for leather for the last 3 miles to get in under that time. Gradually I began to increase the pace so that when I got into the last mile I stood an outside shot at the goal time. My final mile was run in 6mins 30secs but I crossed the line in 4hrs 30mins 27 secs, just 1 second outside my personal best and 27 seconds outside the goal.

That time enabled me to finish 339th overall out of 1500 racers, good for the top 23%in the world and 63th in my age group (which just goes to show how strong and fast the 25-29 age group is, considering that many of the pro's were ahead of us). Overall the race was a great event and it was so cool to be at the World Championships. It was also a great race to end the season with as it gives me a ideal way to target training for the winter knowing what I need to do for the 2008 season (which will be upon us before we know it). Before then though I have a 4 week break where I will just "tick" over and generate the plan for the winter and the prospective race schedule for 2008.

ITU World Duathlon Championships - Race Report

In a slightly odd scenario I found myself toeing the line on Sunday at 7:30AM in the red, white and blue of the United States of America getting ready to start the first run of the World Long-Course Duathlon Championships. Having qualified back in July at the Blackwater Traverse Duathlon this was only my second ever duathlon and it was a World Championships :-)

We had headed down to Richmond, VA on the Friday night to enable me to get up on Saturday morning and pre-ride the course. The bike course was rumored to be technical, rolling and on a poor road surface.....some had decided to forgo their tri-bikes and go with a road bike. Riding the course on Saturday morning I could see why some people decided a road bike set-up might be better but in the long-run I felt that the tri-bike was by far the better and faster option. I did however, shy away from using the disc-wheel and went with the deep HED's instead. The course was 19km long and was to be covered 4 times. Although technical and rough, it looked as though it would be fun and certainly not a typical tri/du bike course.

The rest of Saturday was pretty much just an R&R session, doing the usual pre-race check-in's and athlete meetings etc. With Team Banks in attendance we all headed off for the race pasta buffet and let's just say that some Team Banks members made the most of the buffet (including chocolate cake!)....I won't mention names but a clue would include the words Banks, Mr, Senior. After watching the first half of the Terps against Virginia, it was to bed for an early rise on Sunday morning.

Fortunately, the transition area was literally only a 5 min walk from the hotel and so there was no pre-race jitters about getting stuck in traffic. After quickly setting up my transition items (in the dark!) it was off for a quick warm-up and then into the starting area for the 7:30AM start of the age-group men - no waves just all of us at once.


The first run was two-loops of the course for a total of 15km. As per usual in duathlon the first run was blazing fast and you feel like shouting out to everyone just to remind them that we do have a 50mile bike and another 7.5km run to go! The run course was great and featured some cobbles, bridges and the final 3.5km was along the canal walk area. Coming through the first lap in 27mins 17secs I was in 5th place in AG and about 35th overall and after making up a few overall places on the 2nd lap at 27mins 59secs I was heading out onto the bike in 5th AG and 32nd overall. The 15km run had me done in 55mins 16secs (5:56min/miles) and funnily enough is my quickest 15km ever.....having only done a hilly 15km previously it wasn't too hard to beat.

Going out onto the bike is never nice in duathlon.....the legs are completely trashed from the first run and it normally takes me a good 20mins or so to get the feel for the bike legs. In that 20mins though you are still pushing real hard which makes it doubly tough! As previously stated the bike course was 4 loops and 76km...on real rough roads. Not only did the actual effort of cycling hurt but the road surface was also beating you up. My aim was to push as hard as possible to get some kind of gauge on what my fitness is for the 70.3M race in three weeks. I certainly did push hard (or it felt like it anyway) and my laps time were surprisingly consistent with the middle two laps being slightly quicker than the 1st and 4th. Due to the nature of the course and the rough roads, the overall speed wasn't exactly "white-hot" at 21.6 MPH but it was 7th quickest in AG and 41st overall.

With the bike done in 2hrs 11mins and 3hrs 6mins gone in the race, it was "only" the 2nd run and 7.5km remaining. Now this is where duathlon gets real tough and everything can fall apart and in a hurry.....the legs have already blitzed 15km and then cycled for over 2 hours and now they need to drag a tired body around for another 7.5km (4.66miles). Running out of transition I didn't feel too bad and it was nice to free-fall down the hill towards the canal. However, with all downhills you eventually have to head back up and on the small loop to the bridge the legs began to feel decidedly heavy! I felt that I was running so slowly and was hoping that some liquids at the aid station would help somewhat.....they didn't. So with about 6km left in the race I felt as though I was hanging on and hoping not to completely fall apart and get the dreaded "bonk" that can make you walk home. Fortunately, although feeling real slow and seemingly hanging on, I was still "plodding" along and was able to keep moving. Knowing that the 2nd run was relatively "short" helped, and I even managed to pass some people. The final hill was negotiated and then it was the final 100 meters into the finish area......just about breaking 3hrs 40mins for 7th in AG and 28th overall (out of 350 racers). Looking back at my 2nd run time, it was no-where near as bad as I felt and I was still able to bash out 6:51min/miles. I think that the 2nd run of a duathlon always feels slower that it really is because it is relative to the 1st run which is as fast as your usual stand alone running race pace.

Overall the race was great and I am pleased to finish 7th in AG and 28th overall....perhaps I should do more Duathlon's! (I will be back in Richmond in April for the Duathlon Nationals). So not only was it a cool race but the day was a huge training effort before Clearwater and that's the big goal for the end-of-season. Two more weeks of hard training before the taper and 70.3M race and then I'm done for the season.....then we start looking forward to next season!

Busy Racing Schedule Ahead

Well now that my quad's have finally recovered from the Catoctin 50KM, it is time to look forward and see what the build-up to the World's is going to be like.

Firstly, and most importantly I need to get some speed back in my running legs and that will be critical for the duathlon World's. This will mainly involve some fast running at above tempo, pretty much at and above threshold level. As well as training runs, I have also planned a couple of races: 1) the Larry Noel 15km in Greenbelt on September 2nd; and 2) the Run For Kathy 5km on October 14th, which has become a Bowie tradition of mine and takes place in and around Allen Pond Park.

Secondly, I have decided to go ahead and buy a disc wheel for my triathlon bike, which will hopefully cut a few minutes off the bike section in future races.

Thirdly, I need to do a few triathlon's and race myself into peak fitness. My philosophy really is that nothing can prepare you to race than racing itself. As such, I have an Olympic triathlon scheduled for August 26th in North East, MD, a half-ironman race (Diamondman) in Bear, DE on September 9th and then my final triathlon before the World's at the Bassman half-ironman in New Jersey on October 7th.

It is a pretty packed schedule that includes five races over the next two months, leading up to the Duathlon World's and I might try and see if I can find some 5km and 10km races to jump into if possible.