Backstreet's Back, ALRIGHT?!

That title is meant to be read in a defensive manner with a note of hostility.

I haven't been feeling very "posty" lately. Listen bloggers, I am not going to give you the sunshine up the butt and all that 'it's not you, it's me' garbage. It IS you. But I'm gonna give this whole thing another crack anyway. Don't think this lets you off the hook. You need to take a long look in the mirror.

Recent developments for me include the following EVOTRI uniform!

As baller as a giant man-baby clad totally in spandex can be...

Name on the butt means people take you SUPER CEREAL.

Other really cool news is I went for a couple rides with Terenzo Bozzone (Half ironman world champ for those triathlon illiterates). My buddy Larry met him on a ride and organized one for the following day. Legit rides with HUGE climbing. We did something around 8k over 75 miles or so. We were pushing it too. I was toast. Next ride was a couple days later but almost the exact same format. Climb fast until you get sick of being on your bike. Tons of time spent north of 330 watts.

In addition to Terenzo, James Bowstead and Andrew Lockton (both dope pros in their own right) rode on one of the respective rides so we had a beastly group each time. Also, the owner of Saltstick, Jonathan Toker came along. He's a former pro and climbs like a wisp of smoke. It was a LOADED group.

I am hoping to get more time with these dudes because I want to see what the pro level is all about on a day to day basis.

I have a race this week. Naturally, I have been a complete waste of space for the last couple days. I am feeling great and super sharp. Hopefully a good result is coming.

To Live and Die in L.A.

Hey Bloggers!

How are you? HA! Like I care. This is my time to shine...

I was out on a ride and decided to bring Cait's camera to show you guys how things are in LA. WINNING. Despite putting myself at great personal risk, I have managed to capture images of these famous LA landmarks. I'm sure you'll recognize them. Keep in mind, this was all on one ride!!

View from Charlie Sheen's Bathroom. He pees tiger blood.

View from Willow Smith's Helicopter Landing Pad.

View from Ozzy Ozbourne's Hen House.

View from Dr. Dre's flipped corvette

View from my brain...looking down.

Really it was just a pretty ride in the Santa Monica mountains that I figured I would share.

Sorry to be so surly and rude, Bloggers. I hope you'll keep reading. It was only a joke. Don't be so sensitive.

Crazy train

I’ve got a few updates for you starting with gear and ending with racing.

Gear:

I have been buying/ selling gear like mad lately. The last effort was selling off a crankset. I popped it on craigslist and had a couple bites. I ended up arranging a meeting with a guy as I was on the way to a race this weekend. I kind of hate craigslist as it seems sort of like a meeting place for the filthy underbelly of society. Sort of if you took the ethics and rules out of ebay. But…unlike ebay, they don’t take a cut of sales. I am sick of paying out to ebay. Anyway, it felt like a drug deal as I rolled up into a parking structure and the guy opened his trunk up. He examined the crank and got out 600 dollars in cash. Before he handed it to me, he started talking about testosterone therapy…. WHOA… pump the brakes! I said, “you mean doping?” Long pause…then he said, “uhhh yeah.” He opened a cooler in his trunk and showed me a bunch of IV bags and crap. I asked if he was doing it for pros or what. He said yeah we do semi pros, pros, and a lot of 40+ guys trying to recapture their youth. I was visibly disgusted as he quickly put it away saying, “ oh you’re too young, you can get the benefit with a good diet.” I didn’t say anything, took his money and left.

Wow. That was my first real exposure to PEDs and I was grossed out. Depressing and jading to think this is going on.

Racing:

Anyway, 600 dollars richer, Cait and I continued on, driving to the race. It was a 5k run/ 11 mile bike/150 yard swim reverse tri. Weird small race with tons (relatively) of money on the line. 2k for first, 700 for second, and 300 for third. Usually I like to race a strong field, but I’m not gonna lie, I was hoping for a field full of cream puffs. No luck. About 7 legit guys showed up and I knew I was in for it. The gun went off and I went out super hard. I hit the halfway point at about a 16:40 5k pace. I was hurting and still well behind the leader! I tried to settle down and get some good turnover. I faded but managed to finish the 5k in 17:10 which was fast for me but still 2 min behind the leader... ridiculous. I hopped onto the bike in 9th place after a sloppy t1 in which I lost two places. I desperately tried to reel people in as the 150 yard swim was basically a formality. I was dead on the pedals but still moving well on the hilly, 3-loop course. I picked off 3 people but the top guys just worked me over and a couple put a little time into me on the bike. 6th overall, but out of the money. I was happy with the effort and the run time but dang...People are fast. 6 guys were under 17 on the 5k with the leader going 15:10-ish on a rolling course! Insane.

Food mistakes

So my recent food habits have me feeling like Usher...so these are my confessions. (imagine a velvety smooth baseline)

Listen to Usher "confessions pt II" before you read this if you can't imagine the tune.



Watch this...
Just when I thought I could say all I could say, I go and eat 10 pieces of french toast in one single day/these are my confessions/man I'm lost and I don't know what to do so I gotta give you part two of my confessions/
If I'm gonna tell it then I gotta tell it all/ damn near cried when I ate that pound of bacon/ man I'm lost and I don't know what to do but to give you part three of my confessions/
This gon' be the hardest thing I think I ever had to do/ at night dreaming and talking to myself "just eat you know you to"/ I think I told you that last midnight I was creeping in creeping in/ the fridge and everything you know I'm eating it/
First thing that came to mind was sweets/ second thing was I probably need something salty to eat/ Third thing was me wishing that I never did what I did/ feeling horrible shame/ and only with myself to blame.


I feel better. Thanks for listening, bloggers...I could only do that in song. The wounds are still too raw just like the bacon was.

I've eaten about a tub of butter in 2 days, 2 packs of bacon, 1.5 loaves of bread, a container of maple syrup and honey. I have a problem...That's the first step.

Racing

This video to me is absolutely NASTY. I sort of hate this nonsense about how this race is like life and the deepness of it all. What a romantic notion...but to me it's gritty. I tend to look at it like this: that girl let her guts and adrenaline take over when she could have just called it a day and that is what gets me about racing. She refused to listen to that little voice that says, "no, I can't" or "well I guess it's over" or "maybe next year". She knew there are no second chances. There are just discreet moments.

The best thing about this is that she actually won. Even if she hadn't, she raced and didn't just run.

My sister was there to see that race first hand. She races the same way. Damn, I love that. Not many people do, even at the pointy end of the field. I love to see that fight. It's good to watch hard ass racers.

Race in SD

First time in San Diego was great. Spent mass time hanging with Cait. We went for Sushi, pancakes, took some naps, went to a brewery, biked and ran, and wandered around down town. I wasn't feeling super sharp for the race the night before but the nap brought me around and suddenly I was feeling magic.

Race morning started out shockingly relaxed but quickly turned into typical race morning as I discovered I had miraculously lost my aero helmet...seriously unreal as I had it on my head the day before. Who knows what happened to it? Shit man, I need to get it together. I sent Cait frantically back to the hotel (she is the best) and I scrambled around trying to find a spare. I rounded up a fisher price looking helmet, which was a major win all things considered, then headed to the swim start.

I was in the second wave which I had mixed feelings about. 1. I was getting time splits to the leaders constantly which was good. 2. I couldn't react to surges in the race which was bad. 3. Not having a swim pack was not ideal and my swim time showed it compared to the 1st wave

The swim was excellent. I got dropped in the first 200 but quickly diced through 8 of the people who thought it was a 200 free instead of a triathlon. Seems like it was easy to confuse despite no pool and a wetsuit...DUMB DUMB DUMB. Anyway, the stroke felt very good and I held a high tempo into t1. Transition was a bit sloppy but not shameful and relatively good. Not sure what others are doing in transition but I will take free time if you give it to me. If you want to put on makeup and file your nails before heading out on the bike, be my guest.

The bike felt pretty rotten as I have had major tracking issues with my knee since switching to speedplays. It seems to have set off a stick of dynamite in my pedal stroke and suddenly I am herky jerky all over the road even with my new looks. I wasn't very smooth but the watts were alright and I averaged 335 with 6 dead stops. Still managed to go 59 and change. Michey Weiss held 377 so I have a ways to go but I think I can get there.

I transitioned onto the run and felt good. I was smooth but a bit sluggish until mile 3 when a guy picked me up. He gapped me but I hung on about 5 seconds back. I clawed my way back to within a second. Then he heard my breathing and surged. Rinse. Repeat 3 times. I had one more penny to spend and came back on his shoulder and tried to make a pass...I didn't have much so it wasn't all that definitive. He responded and rounded a corner. I thought I was dead until I saw a small downhill. I blasted down it and was on his shoulder again. I was running on fumes at that point and he easily coasted away as I waddled in. Second time in as many races that I have come up short with 300 yards to go. I fought like hell to make this one close though. I hit the line completely totaled and yacked four times. Satisfying effort.

Overall, athletically the race was spot on and right where I needed to be. 7th overall of ~815 racers is hard to complain about, but I was hoping my race would end up being more competitive with the top guys. It still left me a couple minutes shy of the podium and out of the money. I am knocking on the door but still not there. Competitive races are awesome but sometimes I just want to cherry-pick one and blow apart the field... Guess I just need to get faster.

Solvang Spring Fling Wrap Up

Overall review:

The camp was tough and we piled on big bike mileage. Lots of it was quite intense too and my bike muscles still are gassed. My total hours for the week were 27.5 which was by far my biggest week. The repercussions of doing such a big volume jump with so much intensity weren’t as severe as I thought but still messed with my sleep. I had a couple nights where the sound of my heart kept me awake. My dreams have been super messed up too…I don’t want to go into it but weird is an understatement.

The people at the camp were phenomenal. Lots of laughs and lots of time spent geeking out on triathlon in general.

The coaches were sensational but they took a sick pleasure in decimating me every day. They also really helped with my swim stroke which was a total surprise. Especially because the coach who helped me, Ryan Ignatz, is a snail in the water. Quote me on it. He thinks he could stick on my feet but he would be a distant memory…turns out he actually really knows swimming. People can tell you “fix this and fix that” but actually being able to make a real change is something not many coaches can do. I was blown away and it already feels like I am grabbing tons of water I was missing. Thanks Ryan.

Charlie, the camp organizer was absolutely the best. I couldn’t believe how well the camp ran and how fluidly she operated the minutiae.

The recuperation from the camp has involved tons of bagel eating. I have been blasting through french toast at a rate that would hurt Ihop's feelings. It seems I haven’t stopped eating since I got back. I’m finally getting some freshness back in my legs.

I have a race this wknd and I am interested to see how I go. I am hoping for a major fitness bump from the camp and I need it since there is a bit of prize money on the line. I checked the start list and I know some of the guys… I think it’s safe to say a couple podium spots are locked up already. Michael Weiss is going to smash everyone. That guy is so lethal across the board it is insane. He’s an Ironman winner, world champ mountain biker, and xterra winner. If I can be in the same area code, I could make a bit of money. We’ll see if the body shows up to the party.

Bob, a hard-nosed Alaskan I met at camp, is going to do the race too and made me promise to buy him a beer if I finish in the money so the pressure is on.

Also...random bit of good news: I fixed my cleat position on my bike shoes today. I went from knee pain and weak tea cup baby power to making my pedals quake with anguish and tremble with fear. I jammed the cleats back and suddenly my ass and thunder quads are firing like NPR right now. Little baby Mikey Weiss should take notice. Death and Pain are coming to San Diego.