Overdue

Man it has been a crazy last week and a half and it is about to get a bit more nuts. I guess I will start back with the last thing I remember, but I’m sure I’m neglecting some particularly busy bit of nonsense prior to that.

Anyway, last weekend was a great time. Cait and I went down to Orange County for an Olympic distance triathlon with my buddies: Jon, Tony, McCray, and Larry. I was pretty stoked about my fitness going in but made the mistake of playing basketball with Tony on Thursday. I was absolutely wrecked. My ass was blasted and my lower back felt atrophied. I came around the day of the race so I was optimistic. I got in the water and felt pretty strong. I jumped on some feet but couldn’t seem to tap into that top end pain and so got out of the water feeling fresh. I got on the bike and the same thing happened. The course was brutal so I was expecting to hurt but again couldn’t seem to put it into the next gear. It was probably one of the best courses I have ever seen but also a really tough course on both the bike and run. I cruised a nice tempo but my butt was giving me nothing. Turns out my butt is the source of my powers and it just didn’t show up to the party.

My transitions were super clean and I jumped onto the run, still fresh. I got out of the gates really quick for me and the first two miles were both 5:30. The turnover felt awesome and the course was flat and paved. That changed very quickly as we got off the road and onto a soily loose trail. It got hilly and then just started going uphill. The course was unrelenting and I was having difficulty going up and was absolutely hammering the downhills. Usually I climb well on both the run and the bike but I couldn’t get my glutes firing. I was smashing the downhills to make up time and it seemed to be working. I was picking up people all over the place and The finish came up way quicker than I expected. I caught a guy 500 m to the finish and tried to go past on a downhill. He matched me and I thought it was over. I saw a glimpse of a corner and went for it. He let me go and I rounded the corner actually sprinting….that’s how I know I left too much in the tank. If my turnover is still together at the end, that’s no good.

Anyway, I finished and the time turned out good. I placed 7^th overall in a pretty competitive field and I closed the gap to two minutes on a guy I usually lose about five minutes to, which was huge for me. I hate to say it, but I think I left about two minutes on that course which makes me a little sick. All in all, the bright spots were the turnover, the endurance, and the down hill running. A few too many negatives to list, but it still gave an ok result. I need to get back out there. I am really fit and it didn’t really show up.

Larry nailed the race and was 2 minute 50 seconds of me. He smashed the bike course and had one of the faster splits in the field. I have been riding with him a ton and can attest that this guy can shred.

Jon and McCray both had sweet races and finished in the low 2:20’s. Jon has been following Tony’s training plan and is making HUGE gains. Tony had a solid race finishing in 2:10 but had the same issues as me… We both were a little smoked from the bball or something. Incidentally, he whooped my ass at basketball and I whooped his at the tri. He must have taken it deeper during the game of basketball. Either way, he is fit as hell and ready to race Boise 70.3 for another showdown with Larry. Larry’s performance earned him the title “Larry Legend” for life. We stripped Bird of that title and gave it to someone who is a bit more deserving at present. Suck it, Bird.

After the race, Michellie Jones donated some sponsor gear to give away in a raffle. If you don’t know who she is google ‘greatest female triathlete of all time’ and I’m sure she will come up with some hits. Anyway, she was giving away a saddle and a helmet. In order to win you had to answer trivia questions about her career. Triathlon trivia??? Come on. Why don’t you just give me the stuff right now? I tried to snag the saddle but some punk beat me to the punch. I got called on for the helmet and the question was “where did Michellie Jones compete in her first Olympics and what place did she get?” Easy. Sydney. 2^nd. The kicker was she should have been first. Some doping shit head stole the gold from her and they caught her after the Olympics and couldn’t prove anything prior… so the snake still has her medal. I told this to the emcee in so many words. Michellie loved it and flagged me over. I told her she should have got the gold and she gave me a hug. The helmet was sick (Neon pink and just Cait’s size) and Cait needed one as she is just getting into cycling. She just got a new Trek that I picked up with the money from a bike I flipped on Craigslist. Someone offered to buy the helmet off us which was tempting but we declined. It was too perfect to give away. It was a good thing too, after looking online and seeing the 225 dollar price tag! Crazy… especially for a piece of Styrofoam but whatever.

Cait and I then went out for our new Sunday ritual of coffee and glazed donuts. PERFECT weekend.

The next morning at 4, I was off to Mexico…. More to come on that later.