Pro Tip: Developing Feel for the Water

We Need Your Help!

Can you imagine having to manually pump your own heart to stay alive? You would have to pump it day or night or you would die. At first it would be easy and simple. All you have to do is pump. After a while, however, it would drain you. Your entire day would revolve around pumping your heart. You would have to pump it while you brush your teeth, drive to the store, ride your bike, or hang out with your friends. It never stops. The minute you forget to pump, you die.

We all take our highly functioning organs for granted, but my good friend, Grant Curry cannot. Grant has lived with type one diabetes for 40 years. That means that, for the last 40 years, Grant has had to act as his own pancreas. He has consciously managed his blood sugars with food and artificial insulin for 40 years because his pancreas stopped working when he was 8 years old. Even when he hangs out with friends or rides his bike, he needs to have his diabetes management on the back of his mind or he could become very sick within a few hours and die.

I met Grant at the Diabetes Training Camp three years ago and he is one of the most inspiring individuals I have ever met. You need crazy endurance to be able to live with diabetes for that long. I respect him for his strength and stamina.

The Diabetes Training Camp changed Grant's life. Diabetics have special mental, medical, and physical needs and camp provides individuals like Grant to learn to live, thrive, and exercise with diabetes. This year, Grant is raising money to celebrate living with Diabetes for 40 years by riding 400 miles with 40,000ft in elevation while attempting to raise $40,000 to help the Diabetes Training Camp Foundation. The foundation creates scholarships for diabetics to go to camp and learn how to live with their disease at little or no cost. Check out his website below and consider joining me in donating a few dollars to this important cause.

Ride40.com

Racing in the worst conditions...Lake T Tri turned duathlon

I had a "fun" time racing the local Lake T sprint tri! This picture is of me running through T2 after a second loop on the bike of torrential downpour where the rain felt like shards of glass flying into my eyeballs at all moments. I was asking "could it really get any worse?" These are the moments we live for as triathletes... Well, maybe not the ones we live for, but definitely the ones we gloat about for the rest of our lives (No...I've raced in the worst conditions...there was this one time at Lake T...). Good times. Anyways, I felt honored to win the race and was happy when the experience was over smile emoticon. Thanks for capturing this moment and so many others, Jennifer Schulten!

2015 New York City Olympic Triathlon Race Report

The New York City Triathlon is one of my favorite races of the year. There were over 3,000 who participated this year and countless volunteers who helped to produce it. It’s truly amazing that so many people are enthusiastic about our sport!

Swim:

The swim started out with a dive off the barge into the Hudson River. This is a unique start, compared to most non-draft legal races where there is a deep water start, making the NYC tri all that more exciting. The dive off makes for an even faster down steam swim! I didn't get a video of the Pro guys going off, but here are the Pro women:

The race director called us down onto the barge one by one. The faster guys like Cam Dye, Ben Collins, and Jessie Thomas all got to line up together on the right hand side of the barge, closest to the center of the river (the fastest moving part of the river). The guys who were less well known, including me, ended up on the slightly less advantages left side of the barge.

When the gun went off, I dove in and started working straight down the river. To my surprise, no one was swimming in front of me for a minute or two. I couldn’t believe it. I thought I was having an awesome start to my swim. As I breathed to my left for those first 2 minutes, my natural breathing side, I could see that there were a few guys to my left who were just behind me. When I took my first breath to my right, right about the time I was starting to settle in, I realized I made a mistake. All the guys on my right had moved even further right, about 10 or 15 meters or so. Even worse, most of the pack was a second or two in front of me. I pushed hard to move over to the right, but by the time I got there, I missed the main pack of swimmers (who would swim around 13 minutes). For the rest of the swim, I swam alone and as hard as I could. I told myself that I needed to limit my losses and really press for the swim exit. I got out about 1 minute behind the main pack.

T1:

Going into the race, I knew I wanted to press the pace between the Swim and T1. It’s about a half mile or maybe a little more of a run into transition and it’s often a place where gaps open up. Coming out of the swim, I really made a push for it, getting out of my comfort zone and trying to catch up to that group just a minute ahead. Despite my effort, I still ran about 15 seconds slower than most pro’s and 30 seconds slower than some of the top pro’s like Ben Collins. I did catch up to two guys and ran out of transition with them.

Looking for blood at the beginning of the bike

Bike:

I road with those two and dropped them as I started to settle into my hard but manageable race pace effort. There were two guys, Alex Willis and Andrew Mueller, down the road who I’ve raced a number of times, who are  around my ability level, and who I wanted to catch before the end of the bike. The bike is an out and back on the west side highway and the road conditions were the best I’ve seen them in the 3 years that I’ve raced this race. This made it easier to keep my head down and work to reel them in.

One of the great parts of this race in particular is that the women went first, 11 minutes and 37 seconds before the guys, to “equalize” the field. The first person who crosses the line gets an additional bonus. Although I was nowhere near the guy who crossed the line first, I love this race format because it gives me more carrots to catch as I advance though the course. I seemed to catch another Pro (male or female) at least every few miles and was able to see another one just ahead. This helped keep my motivation up throughout the course!

While putting out the effort I needed to reel in my competitors, I was having a hard time keeping anything in my stomach. I took a gel around mile 3 and ended up throwing much of it back up. I kept getting in the fluids as much as I could, but a lot of it came back up.

At the turn around, I was a bit surprised to see that I had not yet caught Willis or Mueller, but I could see that they were only 20-30 seconds up the road. I reeled in Willis first, about a mile from the turn around and got to work on Mueller. He gave me a run for my money this time. At mile 22 or so, I was really starting to hurt on the bike, still unable keep the nutrition down, and my back was starting to tighten up. I stayed mentally strong and ended up catching Mueller about 1 mile from the finish, but it took a lot of strength and I wasn’t able to put any more time into him.  

The feeling of DEATH towards the end of the ride

T2:

I ended up coming into T2 with three guys, including Mueller, and was the second guy out by about 1 second. All in all, it was a solid and fast transition for me.

Run:

I took my time ascending the first big hill out of transition, took in another gel (which thankfully stayed down), and got to work. About a half mile in, Muller came around me. I tried to stay as comfortable as possible and told myself “this is your race, you’ve run faster than him in the past, just stick with him for a mile or until the legs and upper body come around….then make a move.” I stayed about 5-10 meters behind Mueller for about 2 miles, trying to match his quick turnover and relaxed arms. As we approached a hill, I got out of my comfort zone and pushed a little harder to try to get on his shoulder. My body, particularly my lungs, didn’t want to respond. I told myself to wait a little bit more. At mile 3, I again tried to push myself out of my comfort zone and again, my body didn’t want to respond. I made up a few steps on him and fell back again. Around mile four, I saw Muller pulling away...in retrospect, we were both slowing down but he slowed down less than I did… and just tried to hang on for dear life. Despite slowing down, I tried my best to just stay strong through the last half mile and get myself to the finish.

#sufferfest

Reflection:

Overall, the race didn’t come off quite as I had hoped. Last year, I was 11^th, went 1:52:37, and was roughly 9 minutes off the leader. This year I was 15^th, went 1:57:18, and was roughly 12 minutes off the leader.

There were three things that really stand out between this year and last year. This year, I didn’t catch onto the biggest swim group. A logistical mistake like this can, in a solid field, make or break your race. Physically, I would have saved a lot more energy and gone faster with that group. Mentally, I would have come out with a big group of guys and been able to ride in contact with a group who road about the same time as me. Knowing where to be during the swim is something I continually need to work on and improve.

The second thing was the humidity. The heat wasn’t that bad, but the humidity was high. I’m clearly still working on figuring out how to perform up to my ability level in the high humidity. It didn’t help that I was having trouble keeping my fluids down. I needed those fluids to keep my body cool and I was probably getting dehydrated towards the end.

The third thing was that I didn’t use caffeine this time in my gels. I’ve recently switched from gu to honey stingers without caffeine because they have been easier on my stomach. I haven’t had any problems with them in training, even in humid conditions and for intense rides, and my energy levels have remained stable. In this race, however, I ended up throwing up 4-5 times during the bike, so the switch didn’t work anyway. I will probably try something else and will definitely be taking caffeine in some form in future race nutrition plans. For me, caffeine lowers my perceived effort and that makes a huge difference when I’m trying to get out of my comfort zone.

Post race, Amber, my parents, and I took a boat tour to see the Statue of Liberty! We enjoyed the afternoon in the city before leaving for home. Racing takes us to some of the best venues in the world!

Off to the next races! First up, Timberman 70.3. Then, IM Chattanooga!

Big thanks to my sponsors Zane’s Cycle, Dr. AJ of Southern Connecticut Muscle and Joint Chiropractic,  Jen Reynolds of 66 North Main Massage, CT Cycle Center, Cliff English, Amber, and my parents. They all played a role in helping me get to the start line at the NYC tri! Also, thanks to race director Bill Burk who did a great job directing this race! Thanks NYC Tri for keeping the Pro race alive! 

Race Report 2015 Eagleman 70.3

Eagleman was a tough race for me and I really don’t have a ton to say about most of it. I can say that I trained hard, was well rested, and ready to put in the best 70.3 race of my life. In terms of the race itself, I swam hard, I biked well within my means, and set myself up for a good run. I came off the bike feeling great, motivated, and ready to go. After the first 2 miles or so, running more conservatively than I did at Challenge Knoxville, I began the slow fade, slipping from 7^th to 11^th, and finishing up the race just trying to survive. 

Solid Swim...not too far back!

The biggest challenge of this race for me, and basically everyone who raced, was the hot and humid conditions. The heat was over 90 degrees and the humidity was over 90%. It was basically hell. The Devil in Milton’s Paradise Lost said “The mind is it’s own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell…” but I can attest that the mind is part of a physical organ, trapped within the body, and it eventually breaks down with the reality of its surroundings in the full realization that hell is, in fact, hell. The person who actually wins the race is usually the person who (1) gets the most comfortable with being in hell (i.e. the best at embracing the suck) and (2) does all he/she can to slow the body’s unavoidable break down (i.e. heat acclimation, hydration, cooling off). Of course, it also helps to be super fit and talented. Great job to Cody Beals who was clearly the best at dealing with hell on this dreadful day…he went on to win the race!

The hot conditions made it a challenging day, but I think the humid conditions are really what stressed my body the most. I think I acclimate to hot conditions as well as anyone else. When I went down to Tuscan for training, I went from the Sub-30 degree Connecticut weather to 70-85 degree weather in Tuscan and really didn’t have an issue adapting after the first few days. Leading into Eagleman, I felt like I’d been well acclimated. The heat in Cambridge, MD during the race was in the 90’s, but I’d also been training in 90 degree heat leading up to the race. The real difference was in the humidity at 90%. When it’s that high, the sweat dripping out of your pours doesn’t effectively evaporate to cool your body. The body can cool itself somewhat more effectively on the bike because of the wind that comes with moving at a higher rate of speed. On the run, however, there is very little relief...at least at the speed that I was going.  

Finishing the bike and feeling strong!

I think I did a decent job with my hydration. I drank 4x 24oz bottles of fluid on the bike and drank every chance I got on the run. I didn’t cramp up which suggests that (1) I had enough electrolytes and (2) Cliff has tailored my training to make sure I’m strong enough to race a 13 mile run off of a hard bike. Where I think I can improve the most is in cooling my body in humid conditions. Ice down the pants was not enough. Since the race, I’ve begun to experiment with different head gear (hats and cloth bandana’s) to keep the sun off and keep cool. I’m also investing in a sleeve of cloth that I can fill with ice and put around my neck, Ben Hoffman style.   

Feeling good at mile 1!

Despite my disappointing run, I was still in striking distance of 6^th pace and one spot out of my goal of the top 10^th pro. This is a position that I’ve never been in before and the place filled me with confidence. I’m getting better and better with each race.

Suffering it in!

Thanks to Zane’s Cycles for getting my bike prepared for this race. Thanks to Dr. AJ Gagliardi of CT Muscle and Joint Performance Chiro for his work on my body. Thanks to Cliff English for preparing me to fight. Thanks to CT Cycle Center for helping me get stronger and faster. Thanks to C3 for your thoughts and support. Thanks to Dave Ellis, his aunt Carol, and his mom Joan, for hooking Amber and I up with the sweatiest of home stays! And thanks to Amber and my parents for being there when I need them! 

Promoting the Sport

I had an incredible time talking about life as a Professional Triathlete and Coach to the kids participating in the Valley Shore YMCA Race4Chase Youth Program, a youth triathlon program. Promoting the sport to the younger generation is one of my favorite jobs as a Pro! I even got to lead them in some drills and relays! Thanks for having me out, Valley Shore!

Race Report: Challenge Knoxville Half 5/17/15

The Build-Up

This race report begins with a simple question that Amber—my girlfriend—asked me on Thursday night before the race. “Are you excited to race Knoxville?” she asked. It was one of those questions that she probably just asked out of kindness, in attempt to create conversation, but the question struck much deeper than my superficial “yeah” response.

Amber couldn't come to Knoxville, but she was with me.

As I thought more about her question that night, I knew I felt something about the race; however, it wasn’t my normal feeling of eagerness as much as it was a feeling of anxiety with a touch of dread. Usually, I am excited to race. I think it is important to be excited to race because it gives me that extra edge to go out hard and suffer. This one was different. I was dealing with some really negative stuff. I’m glad Amber asked me the question in the first place because the anxiety was somewhere deep in my unconscious and Amber’s question woke me up to it. Awareness is always the first step to improving situations. Now that it was on my mind, however, I wasn’t quite sure where this anxiety was coming from and what to do with it. What I did know was that if I didn’t work through it, I would have lost the race before I even started because I wasn’t mentally prepared to battle. I went to bed to sleep on it.

On Friday, I woke up and ruminated over the question all morning. It was really starting to get to me. Why wasn’t I excited? Why wasn’t I excited? Why wasn’t I excited? After about 5 hours of repeating this question in my head, I realized I wasn’t getting anywhere. I decided to put the question aside. Worst comes to worst, I would race by going through the motions.

Challenge Knoxville took place at Worlds Fair Park

When I woke up Saturday morning, it came to me out of the blue. It’s funny how ideas form in your head when you’re not actively thinking about them. There were two things weighing me down. First, I realized that I was holding on to some baggage from a previous event. This goes back to Eagleman 2013 when I had one of the worst races of my life and it has haunted me ever since. My plan going into that race was to hold back on the bike and to run hard. I ended up having one of the slowest rides of my life and still ended up having an awful run. This totally killed my confidence in my run and reinforced that I need to bike as hard as I can to get in front of the race because I’m never going to run fast enough to outrun my competitors. Further, I’m always going to blow up at the end of the run. As irrational as these beliefs are, I’ve had trouble disproving them. In fact, I haven’t wanted to disprove them. Eagleman in June 2013 was the last half I did. I’ve been avoiding the distance like a plague ever since, until I chose to do this race in Knoxville. I thought I had let go of my experience at Eagleman, but it was still there.   

Second, I woke up to realize that I misplaced my goal—or rather, I had a secret goal: I wouldn’t be happy unless I won this race. This seemed nearly impossible to me with athletes like Cam Dye in the field. I was putting pressure on myself to go on a suicide mission early with a 100% risk of blowing up and not being able to finish the race. No wonder I was anxious! Looking back, this was a very irrational goal with a very irrational plan to execute.  

Challenge moves in with Huge Tracker-Trailers to Set Up!

Once I realized that I was still holding on the Eagleman 2013 experience and had this misplaced-secrete goal on my mind, I came into the full realization of why I was dreading this race. It was time to reframe. I asked myself the question, “what would make this race exciting for me?” The answer to that question was pretty simple. I didn’t need win the race, I just wanted to finish strong. If I could do this, I bet that I could finish around 10^th place. The plan fell into place a little after that. To finish strong, I would need to swim, bike, and run conservatively. More specifically for the run, I wanted to start conservatively for the first 2 miles, get into a rhythm for miles 3 through 10, and then build the final 3.1 miles. These process goals were much more realistic and gave me something that I could control.  

The Race…

Race day morning was the ritual as usual. Oatmeal and Coffee for breakfast, a stretch cord warm up to get my latts and shoulders engaged, a run with pick-ups, and a 10 minute warm up swim with a few pick-ups.

When the gun went off, we started with a roll up to speed rather than the smack in the face all-out effort that comes with Olympic distance racing. I’m sure one or two guys surged in the beginning, but everyone else built for the first 400meters or so. The group strung out. I was swimming within my ability level and found myself in position with a group of guys that ended up about a minute or so behind the front pack. It was nice to finally swim with a larger group! I swam a 28:14, a PR by over 3 minutes. I was happy to see that the front pack left transition as I was running into it. I was still in the hunt for my 10^th place.

Heading towards T2 with a Group!

I got out on the bike with a pack of about 12 riders and we were all riding together legally. This was the first time I was riding with a large pack like this and it came naturally to me. The first thing that I noticed was how wet to roads were. I didn’t expect rain and it was pouring. The roads were dicey, especially around the first couple of turns. Everyone was taking them cautiously. At every turn, I could feel my back tire skidding which made me feel really uncomfortable, especially riding so close to the other guys (at times, side by side per USAT rules). About a mile into the race, we caught up with the front group. A little down the road we hit a railroad track and my front bottle popped out. I decided to go back and get it. It would only take about 20 seconds to pick up, it wasn’t worth the 2 minute penalty, and I was confident that I could catch up with this group. I got the bottle and started to work my way back to the group. It only took me about a mile before I caught back up and I ended up riding through them.

I road on my own for a few miles.  Going through the turns, my back wheel continued to skid. At one point, I actually stopped to check if my back tire was flat, but it was completely filled. I figured that there was just a lot of oil on the road and that it would be smart to play this one safe. If I road with the group, I was still in contention for my top 10 goal. The pack of riders road past me and I caught the back of the train.

It’s amazing just how easy it is to ride with the group. Half the time I was out of my aerobars and coasting, yet we were moving pretty quickly. We were legally staggered with 10 meters to the guy directly in front of us and roughly 5 meters to the guy staggered to the right of left of us. Every time the front guy switches to the opposite side of the road, we all have to switch. When this happens, and it happens a lot over 56 miles, each person gets a .5-1 second draft from the guy he is switching sides with. It was surprising to me how much this all adds up to an easier, but still legal ride. 

Zane's and Specialized hooked me up with an Evade Tri Hemet and It's Awesome!

At a turn around, I saw a pack of riders riding a few minutes ahead of us and I counted 10 riders. I banked that I would be able to run 1-2 of those guys down and out run everyone in the pack I was with if I stuck with the group I was in. My 10^th place goal was still in sight. I told myself to conserve, conserve, conserve, and not make a move until mile 3 of the run. I stayed safe through the end of the ride. I ended up averaging 225 watts, a good 50 watts avg less than I put out at IM Chattanooga last year. In other words, the ride was stupid easy for me and I knew I set myself up to have a strong run, I just had to be patient. I ended up riding 2:24, about 15 minutes slower than my 56 mile PR.  

Heading towards the Finish

I ran into transition, slipped on my shoes, slapped on my fuel belt, and ran out. Some guys charged out of transition, but I told myself to be patient, to find my form, to let my back loosen up, and then see what I could do. I’ve charge out of transition before in a half and it’s been a huge mistake, making those last few miles a struggle. I still took the first mile out a little faster than I wanted. I ended up running 6:05’s for those first 2 miles until I settled in. It was conservative enough to stay strong. I reeled one or two guys in the first 4 miles, and ran close to another until about mile 9 when I dropped him. I got passed by a guy or two around mile 9.5 and told myself to be patient and stay within my ability level. I still had about 3 miles to close in on them. I passed another athlete around mile 10.5 and knew that this was my opportunity to start pushing for the line. I increased my effort and tried to close on the guy just ahead of me. I kept getting closer and closer, working a little harder over the final mile while keeping that 10^th male pro goal on the back of my mind. I knew I could out-sprint someone in the final 400m if I had the opportunity. I ended up not catching anyone, but I finished strong like I wanted. I ended up running 6:25 pace for 1:24:03. A PR of about 2 minutes.  

My overall time was 4:18:40 and I took 15^th place overall.

The Finish Line!

The Reflection

Reflecting back on the race and hearing other pro athletes account's, I realize that I made some mistakes and also did some things really well. Maybe the biggest mistake was not taping down my front water bottle. As my friend and fellow pro Nick Brodnicki pointed out to me later, I was in the front pack when I dropped that bottle. Unbeknownst to me during the race, that pack split in two and I caught on to the 2^nd pack. I probably should have kept riding strong to catch up to the font pack early in the ride. They must have only been a minute or so ahead and I think I could have caught them less than half way through the course. At what cost? I don’t know. I also should have left some additional air out of my tires. Not planning for the rain, I pumped them up to my usual 110-115psi. I think I would have had better grip around 95-100psi.

What did I do well? I did a solid job on my nutrition plan, taking in 6 gels on the bike with water and some light Gatorade mix and taking in one gel, some Gatorade, and some water on the run. I didn’t have any cramps and my energy was good, so I will continue to use this plan in the future. I worked with the group well in both the swim and bike. I saved a ton of energy to prepare for that run and ended up running well for me.  

Fellow CEC Training Partner Rachael McBride Took 2nd!

The thing I’m most proud of, however, is that I worked through the emotions that I had coming into the race and proved to myself that I can finish the race strong. That gave me a whole lot of confidence. I'm in a much better place mentally for my next half. No doubt, I will be smarter and faster.

What’s next up? The plan is to race Cedar Lake Sprint next week followed by Eagleman 70.3 on June 14th! After that, I will race Philly Olympic. I can honestly say I’m very excited to race these races! Hope to see you there!

Challenge takes Care of their Athletes in Ways that Matter!

A special thanks to Zane’s Cycles, Connecticut Cycle Center, Dr. AJ Gagliardi of Muscle and Joint Performance Chiropractic, Amber, my Parents, Coach Cliff English, my fans, and Challenge Family for all the great support!