MPI IMFL Training Camp

Last weekend me and Matt had the chance to help out with a training camp for Ironman Florida that my coaches at Multisport Performance Institute put on.  There were 10 athletes from 3 different states (one all the way from Missouri) that attended the camp, none of whom had raced the iron distance before.  The camp ran from Friday through Sunday and was held in Panama City Beach.  It was basically a primer for athletes that are preparing to do the Ironman Florida race in November either this year or next.   It was a chance for the athletes to see the course, get some tips from veterans who have done the race before, and get all of their questions answered. 

The first event planned for Friday was a run along the first part of the race course.  Unfortunately Matt had to work that day, so we weren't able to make it in time for that.  We got to Panama City Beach around 6:30, just in time to meet everyone for dinner at the Boatyard Restaurant.  During dinner, we were able to get to know the athletes, enjoy some great seafood, and go over some of the logistics of the camp. 

At 5:45 on Saturday morning, me and Matt met Coaches John and Mark down at the beach to get ready for the first open water swim session.  We carried the kayaks down to the water and put the buoys in to mark the course.  Around 6:30, Mark and John gave a lecture on open water swimming and then the athletes were able to get in the water and practice what they had learned.  While they were swimming, me and Matt were in the kayaks watching over everyone and giving people a place to rest if they wanted to.  The water was absolutely beautiful, crystal clear and we even saw some dolphins pretty close by.

 Once everyone got into dry clothes, we all caravaned about 25 miles away to the middle of the bike course.  Everyone set off for a 60 mile loop, which was the back half of the course and me and Matt were the sag wagons.  We leap frogged the riders in a van and a truck and stopped at different places so they could refuel, fill up their water bottles, or get any help they needed.  It was a good ride, only one rider got a flat that we were able to get changed quickly.  Everyone did great and seemed to really enjoy it.

By the time we were through with that, everyone was starving, so after getting quick showers, we met at Mellow Mushroom for lunch.  Now that everyone's stomachs were full, we were ready for something a little less intense.  We headed back to the condo for a lecture on the race week schedule and all of the little intricacies that go with racing an ironman.  Afterwards we did a walk through of the transition area and went over how everything goes from changing tents, to picking up T1 and T2 bags, to other details that go into racing the iron distance. It was a great opportunity to discuss some things that the athletes otherwise would probably never have thought of.

Now that our food had settled and the sun was starting to go down we were ready to get back at it for the last event of the day.  We drove over to the back side of the run course and ran the loop through St Andrews Park.  It was just a couple of miles and we kept it pretty easy, I think everyone's legs were pretty beat up from the ride earlier.  Since I hadn't ridden, I was feeling pretty good and decided to add on a couple of extra miles.  Matt patiently waited for me to get through and then we decided to pick up Subway for dinner and take it back to the condo.  We were beat and Matt wanted to catch some of the football games. 
We met at the same time on Sunday morning to set up everything for the open water swim.  Mark and John gave a brief lecture on entry/exit of the water and then the athletes got a chance to practice.  Once in the water, Mark and John discussed and demonstrated how to draft and then gave the athletes an opportunity to practice.  They finished the session with a relay race that ended in a photo finish :-).

The last session of the camp was a ride on the front half of the bike course.  We took off from the hotel, which is where the transition area is on race day, and basically rode an out and back course.  Since the course was a little simpler, we only needed one sag wagon and I got to ride.  The whole group stayed together for the first 8-10 miles before we started splitting up.  I stayed with Coach John through the first half, tucked right behind him for most of the way.  It was a good hard effort for me, though I'm sure it felt like a piece of cake to him.  The way back I took it a little easier, stayed with another guy for about a third of the way, and then just rode alone.  We did about 50 miles total.

This camp was fantastic.  I heard nothing but good remarks from the campers about how glad they were to get the experience of seeing the entire course and the opportunity to learn from Coach Mark and Coach John.  I learned so much from being a part of it and know that I would feel much more confident after having gone through it if I were planning on doing the race.  We were pretty tired by the end of it, but we had so much fun.  The athletes were all a blast to be around and had great attitudes.  Good luck to you all as you race this year and next!!   

World Championship

As many of you know, last year I qualified for the Age Group World Championship in Beijing, China and was planning on racing in it, but decided not to.  Once I found out that next year's World Championship was in Auckland, New Zealand, I decided I'd rather risk it and wait and try to qualify for it instead.  If we were going to make that big of a trip for a race, we figured we'd rather go to Auckland than Beijing.  So I raced in the Age Group National Championship, the qualifier for Worlds, in August and I found out last week that the gamble paid off.  I got a spot on Team USA to race in New Zealand next October (2012).  I accepted the spot and am just praying that all of the details and financing works out.  Thanks for all of the support and encouragement that I've received along the way.

HyVee Championship

A week and a half ago on Thursday evening, me and my mom set off for Des Moines, Iowa so that I could race in the HyVee 5150 Series Championship.  Unfortunately Matt and Dad couldn't come because of work responsibilities.  I was not really looking forward to the drive (16 hrs) especially after having driven to Vermont and back two weeks before, but splitting it up into two days at least made it a little better.  The first night went great, we made good time and got about 5 hours of driving done.  The hardest part was searching for a hotel since we were driving on back highways through Mississippi.  We were relieved to finally find a Holiday Inn Express and were able to get a good night's rest.  We didn't get up too early on Friday and when we started out our predicted arrival time in Des Moines was 7:30 and we couldn't wait to get it over with. 
The drive was going pretty smoothly until after lunch.  After we ate, we stopped to get gas and while I was pumping, I set my wallet on top of my car so I could wash the front window.  Only problem was that I forgot to pick up my wallet before we drove off and didn't realize it until we stopped to get gas again about 4 hours later.  Needless to say, I was not very happy.  I called Matt so that he could handle getting my debit and credit cards canceled, thankfully no one had used them.  The other problem was that I now had no picture ID which you need to check in for the race.  Matt came to the rescue again and emailed me a copy of my passport.  By the time the panicking, trying to get a hold of the gas station where I lost the wallet, and deciding what to do was over with we had burnt quite a bit of time and didn't end up getting to the hotel until about ten o'clock.
On Saturday morning, I did a quick ride on the trainer followed by a short run and mom went out on her own run.  Which by the way, she scared me a little because their were some shady parts around our hotel and she was gone longer than she had planned to be, but it ended up she had just gotten a little lost.  After breakfast, we headed over to the expo and packet pick-up.  I hadn't brought any warm clothes with me, didn't even think about it, but when I heard the overnight low was going to be around 50, I figured I should probably get some long sleeves or something to wear before the race.  We found some good deals at the expo and I got a long sleeve shirt and pants which I was so happy to have the next morning. 

Reading in the law library

After we got lunch, we went to the state Capitol building and took one of their tours.  It was about 1 1/2 hours long, a little longer than we were expecting, but it was really interesting.  The building was amazing, though we had to climb a ton of stairs.  Afterwards, we took my bike down to the transition area to check it in and then drove the bike course.

Race start time was 6:45 and we got over to the race site at about 5:30.  Mom dropped me off and I had about a 15 minute walk over to transition.  When I got their I heard over the loudspeaker that the unexpected happened and the water temp dropped 7 degrees over night (it had rained all day Saturday) and the swim was now wetsuit legal.  Of course, I had left mine in the hotel after they said it would take a blizzard to drop the water temp enough to allow wetsuits.  I called my mom and she was able to run back to the hotel and grab it for me, luckily our hotel was less than 2 miles away.

After standing around for awhile trying not to freeze, it was time for the race to start.  They started with the elites and then I was in the 9th wave.  The swim was in a pretty nice lake and I didn't have much trouble sighting the buoys.  I was able to get into a pretty comfortable rhythm, but wasn't too happy with my time when I got out.

Once on the bike, I was ready to make up some time.  The course had some rolling hills, but none that were too bad.  The worst part was we had a bad headwind.  It was a one loop course and wasn't too crowded which was nice.  It was the first race I used my aero bottle that my parents had gotten me a few weeks earlier, which I really liked and felt like I did a better job of drinking more.

The run was pretty flat which I was happy about because my legs were dead.  I think I was feeling some of the effects of racing two weeks earlier, they felt like they were 1,000 pounds each.  They loosened up a little, but I didn't have my best run. The course was beautiful though.  We started by running across a bridge that went over the lake that we had swam in, went along a bike path, over two other bridges that crossed the river that's downtown, and then ended with a half mile stretch directly in front of the capital building which was a cool view.  The worst part was that they put the hardest hill in the last quarter of a mile leading up to the finish line.

The race finished at the Capital building

They posted the results pretty quickly afterwards and I was excited to see that I had gotten second place in my age group with a time of 2:30:32 (30:06 swim/1:13 bike/42:29 run).  We stayed around for the awards ceremony where I was awarded with a Timex GPS watch.  This race was top notch and really a great experience, the whole city seemed excited about it, there were banners about it everywhere.  They also had some great sponsors that gave away some great stuff in the race packets as well as awards.  The overall winners got a brand new Mini Cooper and a $7,000 gift certificate.

Award Ceremony

Later that afternoon, we watched the pro women's race.  It turned out to be a phenomenal race with an exciting finish.  This race has one of the biggest prize purses, so it attracts the best of the best.  It was cool to see the men and women that you read about in the magazines.  If you can believe it, the top male and female in the pro races each earned $150,000.

Unfortunately we had to start the trek home before the men's race began, though I heard it wasn't as exciting as the women's race.  We got a couple hours done that afternoon and then got home around 5:00 the next evening.  Thankfully our trip home was uneventful.  I can't say thank you enough to my mom, she was a lifesaver in so many aspects.  I couldn't have don it without her support, encouragement, and money :-) (after I lost my wallet).  Now I've got one more race before this season wraps up and I am so glad that it is local.  It is the Santa Rosa Island triathlon on Oct. 1.  It's one of the finest races around and right in our backyard.