LA tri...its definitely not a nashville party

Ahh the last race of the year.  a) I cant believe it is here but b) yeah I guess it is time.

After getting back to Boulder at about midnight last Sunday after Galveston, I had Monday to Thursday to get as much schoolwork done as possible before leaving for LA on Friday.  My travel prowess has outstripped even my gains in triathlon--I unpacked my bike in LA in a record 6minutes!

So I hoped off the plane at LAX with a dream and a...well but I had accidentally packed my cardigan, oops.  Later, I had some awesome mexican food.  A massive burrito for like $6.  It was the most expensive thing on the menu!  I swear, california mexican food is so much better than anywhere else I have been.  "The land of fame, excess"?  There weren't any famous people at the restaurant and $6 is pretty cheap to be honest.

Blah blah blah, I worked out on Saturday morning and then my home stay and I drove into the city for the pro meeting--driving there, I looked to my left and saw the hollywood sign! (I swear its there to the left; is that smog?)

Sunday race time was 7:15.  I knew the water had been about 68-70 during the week and I was convinced that the refs would be sticklers and wouldn't let us use wetsuits.   Whoda thought, they did.  Charlie Crawford has a heart after all.   (Charlie BTW is USATs #1 ref dude; he takes pleasure in extensively quoting the rule book and obsessively enforcing the rules (which I think is a good thing actually (I also think he has lost weight recently; he was looking pretty fit))) --but I digress.  My first pro race I have been allowed to use my XTERRA Vendetta wetsuit.  Been waiting all year for that.

This was my first ocean swim and the waves were pretty intense--I think it was 5-6ft swells by Sunday morning making the wetsuits nice backup in case of a drowning scenario.  As soon as the race started, that scenario unfolded.  Sometimes at the start of races I just lack killer instinct.  Most races really; I am just not a mean person I guess and when people are whacking me on the head I usually just try to get out of their way rather than fight them.  The waves were crashing the heck out of us and I got in a group that was too slow for me so I dropped them and was left in no mans land the rest of the time.  

THEN coming in I got rocked by like 3 waves simultaneously.  The first one I felt coming and I was like "Ok, cool I am just gonna body surf this thing in no problem."  Wrong.  I ended up being face planted into the sand, half drowned, rinse, repeat x3.  It was like being in the "extra dirty" washing machine setting where it takes a break after draining and you gasp for air, glance anxiously and think its done so you can move your stuff to the dryer, but then the dang thing just keeps adding more water and vigorously swishing your clothes around.  When I finally got out, I was glad to be alive.  It was kinda funny actually how bad I got rocked, hopefully entertaining from the beach.

The bike was... meh.  I was just kinda plodding along but I guess it was ok.  I mean my time was decent.

Then the run, I just felt awesome.  I think after such a weird race otherwise, I was fresh and ready to go.  Just FYI if you havent done the LA tri, there is a massive hill that you have to do 2x.  I cant think of anything bigger I have ever done in a triathlon actually?  I will keep brainstorming but I dont think so.  Still, I was just cruising the whole time and had my fastest run ever in 32:48.

Who woulda thought, with that I accomplished my 2x goals of 2012; make Hy-Vee (I was the 30th pro of 30 to get in) and run sub-33 (did it in my last race of the year).  Somehow I always seem to make all these ridiculous goals even though I almost always consider them out of reach and usually write them off before they end up happening.  Again, thanks Athena, greek gods et al, I cant think of any other reason why they would happen.

Ok, so I forgot to take much video this weekend; I guess I am getting lazy, but this one basically covers everything else I did, saw, etc:

It was sad to pack up for the last time, but I am honestly psyched about racing next year.  One thing I worried about this year racing as a pro was that it would make triathlon more of a job than a fun pass time; more stress than enjoyment.  BUT, in fact this was the most fun I have ever had racing triathlons.  The travel, the Chobani tri team, free race entries, meeting new homestays, experiencing culture around the US, getting to know famous pro triathletes, and gaining support around the country.  I will surely be training hard this winter for an even better 2013.

Rudy

Galveston 5150, mosquitos, and cheese dipped bacon wrapped fried shrimp

Well, after a nice 3 week break from racing following Hy-Vee, I am finishing the racing year back to back at Galveston 5150 and the lifetime fitness series LA triathlon.  Really, racing as a pro this year has been FANTASTIC for a ton of reasons, but I will write about that later.  Right now, its just tough because school has started and its taking all my time!

Also of note, last Sunday I almost got hit by a car and hit a mailbox at 20mph instead (haha, I am an idiot sometimes).  I went down hard and twisted my shoulder pretty bad, cut up my back and got the worst whiplash I have ever experienced!  Naturally, I was determined not to let it set me back with only 2 races left.  I tried swimming but the shoulder was in serious pain.  (It was also nearly impossible to flip-turn with whiplash, seriously).  My parents, being physical therapists, of course obliged themselves by lecturing me about icing and resting and pumping ibuprofen down my throat.  I ended up doing a little bit of all of this since my shoulder really did hurt a lot.  A number of friends and co-workers told me I should drop out of the race, but by roommate Rob came through, "screw them" he said.  True, when do you ever race 100%, really. I mean I never seem to.

I got in Friday; on Saturday I ran and biked and swam, but you couldn't really tell the difference between them, it was so humid you felt like it was all swimming!  (I secretly like humidity actually; the air is so thick and delicious).  Later, I cranked out some schoolwork for an upcoming committee meeting presentation and chilled with my home-stay John and Kara who were AWESOME.  Another thing I will write more about, but home-stays are a great way to visit an unknow place--its like instant friends in an unknown city!  They give you a place to sleep and show you all the cool stuff!  Plus, their friend Tara was there from Corpus Christi, so we had a fun group.  Here is Tara, John and me after the race.  (Kara was taking the picture)

Sunday, we got to the race nice and early, the sun wasn't up and as I stepped out of the car a herd of mosquitos viscously assaulted every inch of exposed skin on my body.  I plastered myself in some volunteer bug spray and warmed up a lot (to keep moving so they couldn't land on me).  I also took an ibuprofen since my shoulder was still quite a bit touchy.

I ended up having a great swim (I need to write a blog post about Jane sometime because her coaching this summer has helped me tremendously).  I was less than a minute from the leaders out of the water and got out on the bike course with the leaders in sight!  Oh snap.

The bike course was literally flatter than the swim course.  It seemed like the whole thing was uphill and I had to constantly fight the urge to stand up since I knew it was actually flat.  (Galveston is basically a sandbar so there are literally no hills.  (Ok, there WAS a bump in the road at one point; a good 3 inch hill).  I had a good bike (my fastest ever 40k in 55:something) but the highlight was passing Matt Reed at like mile 15.  I looked over and was like, 'holy crap, its Matt Reed, holy crap, stay calm, holy crap' followed by a couple minutes of biking way too hard.  The whole time I was thinking of this line from a James Bond movie where the villain is driving a blimp and saying in an eastern european accent, "more, more power."

The run was eventful too actually.  I was in third at this point by a lot and the course was windy all around this weird Jurassic Park-ish theme park area (tourist haven).  I accidentally missed a short out and back on the first lap and passed Tyler Butterfield.  I had absolutely no idea I cut but he did.  He yelled at me like a mile later when he caught me and I felt like a total idiot.  Here I am totally lost and now I blew my best pro race.  I ran mile 4 pretty dejected until I got to the point I had gone wrong on lap 1.  I figured what the heck, I will just run it twice this time, they are probably going to DQ me anyway, I might as well get a full 10k in since I flew all the way here.  Who knew, one of the race directors was on the course and saw me do it twice, thanked me and said since I was so far ahead of 4th, they would let it fly.  Wow, I definitely appreciated that.  Thanks for looking out for me Athena.

Finished third, my first professional podium!  Super cool.  Home-stay Kara got some pics (she is a professional photographer for BP actually).  Side-note, the petrochemical industry is HUGE there--of interest to me being a PhD chemical engineer--I felt right at home with all the distillation towers and cute birdies covered in crude oil (just kidding, chemicals are awesome!!).

The day only got better after the race.  We cleaned up and headed to the fishermans wharf area for some seafood--I had a bowl gumbo, a breadbowl of clam chowder, and some cheese dipped bacon wrapped fried shrimp.  It was insane.  I could barely find the shrimp.  THEN, we went to the confectioners and I had 3 scoops of homemade ice cream (2 were mine (moca chip and coffee) and 1 was an uneaten scoop of peanut butter chocolate chip from Tara).  I was about ready to pass out at this point...

With an 8pm flight back to Denver, the sun was setting when we took off and the atmosphere of the plane echoed the peaceful surfeit of tired bodies returning from eventful weekends.  By now I have become so used to flying on weekends that it really is completely comfortable.  It just seems right.  There is no stress.  In fact, I love it.  The cabin lights were dimmed; I wasnt sleepy but was in a state of total content listening to passion pit and almost in a trance (listen to the song and you will understand).  I just took a look around at everyone on the plane watching their ipads, wondering where they were going, what they were thinking, and thought about how cool it is to be able to travel all over the US to race triathlons, win a bit of money, make great friends, experience some local culture, and be back for school on Monday.  Really, I must be one of the luckiest people to have this life.  Athena sure is looking out for me.

Its the end of September and already it is snowing in the mountains here...I guess that means its a good time to finish the season.  LA this weekend and then I am on break!

Rudy

Hy-Vee. Go fast, try not to explode.

Hy-Vee triathlon.   The biggest race of he US Olympic distance circuit, and the most prize money of any triathlon race in the world.  $1.1 million up for grabs and quite a bit of talent grabbing at it.  30 men and 30 women are invited every year and every position gets paid.  As it turns out, the perks are even better than they seem...

As I mentioned in last week's post about the Chicago triathlon, I only recently found out that I would be getting a spot in Hy-Vee.  After asking around at the pool where I swim in the summer (Scott Carpenter; 50LCM), I found out that the reason I was given a spot was that Tim O'Donnell had decided not to race and instead to focus on 70.3 worlds (which is this coming weekend) and then Kona which is in about 5 weeks.  So, going into the race, I was the 30th qualifier...  30th of 30.

I flew in Friday with a whole posse of pro triathletes.  Seems we all had the same idea for flights--the Bennetts, Bevan Docherty, Matt Reed, Leanda Cave, Damian Hill, Michael Fox, Lisa Marangon, Jeannie Seymour, and a bevy of others who I dont even know their names (but who looked really fit and hipster at the same time coupled with foreign accents = dead giveaway).

We got to Des Moines uneventfully and packed a shuttle bus full to get to the race hotel.  I must say, Hy-Vee does a fantastic job putting on a professional race.  Each pro was given a suite in the downtown convention hotel, the Embassy Suites for 3 nights.  I walked into my room to a gift basket full of random goodies and a greater Des Moines gift certificate to spend wherever I wanted.  After a quick run and shower I was off to the pro meeting at 5pm.

Again, it was a pretty cool thing to head into the pro meeting and see just about every famous pro triathlete who ever existed.  Even some of the legends of triathlon were there (I guess to watch?).  I sat behind Lisa Norden, and obviously everyone was scouting out Alistair Brownlee and Javier Gomez.  I wanted to ask for autographs, but figured I better race them first.

Later my parents arrived and we went out for some mexican food for dinner followed by an early night to bed.  Saturday was the usual drill with a 30min run and a 30min bike ride to check out the course.  With school starting this week, I have been swamped with work for the class I am TAing for as well as reading for this awesome law class (Energy Law and Regulation) that I am taking just for fun.  On top of that my research is going really well, and I am trying to keep it rolling along too!  SO, I spent most of the rest of the day Saturday working hard to get as much work finished as I could.

While I worked my parents rented some bikes and spent the day exploring Des Moines!  That night, we went out for some pasta and ran into Adam Webber (the amateur who beat me by about 10 seconds in the elite wave in 2011) and chatted for a bit about the race and his chances of taking home another Mini.  After that it was another night of about 9-10 hrs sleep.  I must say, with these late races, you really can get a lot of sleep in on the weekends.  Its been great for catching up.  I set my alarm for 8:30 so I could walk downstairs to the front of our hotel and watch the Elite Amateur go by at mile 5.5 to the finish.  Dan Hedgecock was crushing the field with Adam webber in Second and my boy Drew Scott in 3rd--the AG nats winner Brian Duffy was in 6th.  Its always a tough race and I know the boys duked it out hard on the bike.  It was pretty thrilling to watch the race that I would have been in only a year ago.  It got my HR pumping.

Now, the pro race wasnt until 4:30pm so I had quite some time to waste (not to mention eating right!). I went to breakfast and had some oatmeal and toast while my friend Travis Johnston (also in the pro field) cranked down an omelet!  Whatever works.

Getting eating right for a normal morning race isnt too tough, you just wake up and eat the standard PB banana and bread and are good to go.  But when you have to make it to dinner time to race (yes I sometimes eat the geriatrics dinner at 4:30) it can be a bit tough.  Fortunately, I was tapered well enough that I wasnt really to hungry and made it through the day ok.

I watched a bit of the womens race to get an idea of the course and then set off to T1.  It was a scorcher for sure.  It had been overcast all morning for the amateur race, but the sun came out at about 11am and it heated up quickly!  The race was done so professionally--all the ITU setup with carpets and barriers.  I went into T1 to rack my bike between (who else) Alistair Brownlee and Bevan Docherty.  Javier Gomez was close by as well.  Whew, what a day in store...

I did a short run warm up (not that I needed warming) and then hopped in the water with the others to feel out the course.  At 4:10 we needed to be back in the athlete tent for the special introductions.  It was quite a sight looking around at all of the best triathletes on the olympic distance circuit all in one tent.  I didnt really feel intimidated; honestly, it was like I was only there to spectate.  Sort of a metaphysical out of body experience--like I was a random water bottle that had been placed in the tent equipped with only a preschool level of rational:  "huh. this is cool. how did I get in here again?"  "Oh, it was nice of them to supply gatorade for everyone" "wow, is that Alistair Brownlee right there?" "hmm, that lake was rather slimy"  "I wonder why that table is designed that way, it would be sturdier this way" --that was what was basically going through my mind.

Next, the race introduced each of us behind a local kid who carried our country flag.  It was pretty awesome getting announced and walking down the gangplank.  The race directors were playing music that made it sound like a march to the guillotine.  I waved high to everyone and chatted with my flag carrier dude.  I was really just thinking about what a nice job Hy-Vee did with all the festivities.  I wasnt really nervous at all.  "This is what it looks like on TV, cool." "This blue matting stuff is really squishy!"

The swim started pretty normally and I must say, what I like about racing in the pro field is that everyone knows what they are doing.  Theres no overzealous idiot who pushes his way to the front sprints a 100 and then tanks like an anvil right in front of you.  Everyone knows their pace and if they go out hard its because they can hold it.  I dove in and just felt out my Jane Scott pace.  (for those of you who know Jane, she is one of the main swim coaches at Scott Carpenter pool; all of her sets are basically lactate threshold for 1hr straight...).  So, I was comfortably at LT.  At the end of lap 1 I was on the back of a group and came out of the water just with them.  I sprinted around as fast as I could to stay with and just unloaded on the dive--knocked the wind out of me a bit but I managed to stay with the group (barely tailing off at the end) and go into T1 as the 29th out of 30 swimmer but only 2min down to the leaders.  Not too bad really considering how good of swimmers those guys are.  My Xterra skinsuit helped too I think, I didnt wear it last week in Chicago but I think it helped.  More than anything it pulls me in toight plus it is super water wicking.

I hopped on the bike and already there were guys in front of me scattered over the road.  I put down the hammer from the start and thus began the race.  I had lots of friends and 2 parents around the bike course which was 4 laps so I got to see them all multiple times.  After a lap I had made a few places and after another I had passed a few more.  I was crankin hard but it was weird because I was just going passed people pretty consistently.  "Wow, I feel like I passed quite a few guys"  "Hmm, that is a real nice bike he is riding" "Was that Chris McCormack?"

After 3 laps I had noticed that the lead pack (of about 10 fast swimmers who had stuck in a group for the bike) were not gaining any time on me.  "Wow, I guess I am doing ok."  I hopped off and immediately I knew it was a hot one.  I had cooked it pretty good on that ride and I knew it was going to be a tough run.  All I kept thinking about was the Teddy Roosevelt quotation I had put above my desk for the last week--The man in the arena.  "Oh well I thought, it is better to have risked all in a worthy cause than to have sat idle."  "If I blow up, it will have been worth it."  As my Chicago homestay always said "they cant take my birthday away."

As it turns out, I just kept an even pace on the run and no one was passing me.  It was brutally hot by now and everyone was suffering from the threshold pacing.  I knew my run pace was nothing special, but I also could tell my heart rate was pretty jacked and that to push a little harder would be a bad idea.  So, I just cruised along and lap after lap thought about the friends I had on the course, a couple random scenes from James Bond movies and one of the law cases I had just read.  There was a huge hill leading up to the finish line which we had to do 4 times (once each lap) and by the last lap still no one had passed me so I pushed a little more to crank it out and crossed the line with a huge smile.  I knew it was a good race!  I was cooked.  I fell to the ground in a heap.

Afterwards I congratulated some of the other pros, said hi to my CU teammates who were there cheering and gathered everything up and headed back to the hotel.  I even got asked for a few autographs and pictures!  (they must have confused me with someone else).

And in spite of the brutal race it was a beautiful night in Des Moines.  Its really a very pretty city.  I didnt mention but we took a tour of the capital on Saturday--it is a magnificent building!

Maybe next year they will spell my name right....

It was already 8pm and I packed my bike and as much stuff as I could before heading out to dinner.  Talk about gastrointestinal calamity.  I was a wreck.  It took about 30min and an ice cream sandwich to clear me up enough to get to the restaurant, but it was worth it for a BBQ pizza.

The flight back on Monday was again loaded with superstars and somehow I again lucked into a ride home with the Bennetts.  What wonderful people.  Again, it is just a pleasure to know them.  Triathlon aside, they are just sweet-hearted fun people.

What a whirlwind weekend.  Its been a great season so far and I couldnt do it without the support from my team Off The Front Multisport and the title sponsor Chobani Yogurt.  Thanks too to Rudy Project, Endurance Shield Sunscreen (which I gobbed on before the race) and Xterra Wetsuits.

I am crushed with school for the next milenium but am racing Galveston 5150 on September 23 and the Los Angeles Triathlon on September 30th.  Until then,

Rudy

By the grace of Athena; by the wrath of Poseidon

By the grace of Athena:

This last weekend was the Chicago triathlon and I have to say, it didnt exactly go as planned.  I had a solid month of training since racing in Columbus in July and went into the week on a nice taper for Sunday.  The first thing that didnt go as planned was that I was given a last minute spot to the Hy-Vee triathlon in Des Moines!!!  Its this Sunday!  I literally found out 4 days before Chicago and 10 days before Hy-Vee.  Needless to say, I accepted.  Hy-Vee is the championship race of the 5150 series and every year only 30 men and 30 women are invited to race there.  The reason I couldnt decline the offer is that even if I get dead last 30th place, I will win $3,000.  Its definitely America's race.  Even if you lose, you still win.

But anyway, its going to be a stacked field including the best non-drafting pros as well as Alistair Brownlee and Javier Gomez and a couple other olympians.  I am literally going to get creamed, so 30th place might not be out of the question.  Anyway, more on that in next week's post...since it will be here very soon...

By the wrath of Poseidon:

Now for the lucky #13 part.  I packed up and headed out for Chicago Friday morning.  My home stay picked me up and it was the start of a fantastic weekend.  They lived on the 33rd floor of a high rise right in downtown.  Since my race wasnt until 11:30am on Sunday, I got some footage of the apartment that morning:



We had a great time Saturday previewing the course, riding on the lake shore path and swimming in Lake Michigan.  That afternoon I just relaxed in my room reading and eating cookies and enjoying the awesome view out my window.

Then the race.  Things definitely didnt exactly go as planned.  It was beautiful weather in the morning but by the time the pros were to start at 11:30 it had already started to rain.  Oh, did I mention my race number was #13.  (disclaimer, I am not superstitious).  By the time I was on the bike it was down pouring and the wind was blowing pretty hard!  On one of the 180 degree turns I lost control of my bike and went down hard on my left hip tearing a hole in my Chobani kit and bruising real badly.  It was raining so hard that I slid for a good 10ft on the wet pavement--I almost went into oncoming traffic!  A couple volunteers helped me back up and I got going again only to realize a mile later I had a flat tire.  Ive never had that happen in a race before, but I jumped off and used some "pit stop" to fill and seal the flat.  I did this twice more before the canister ran out and eventually had to ride on the rim all the way back to transition 2.  By then I had lost a good 15min and it was still downpouring.

I debated not running but then I thought, what the heck, I came all the way to Chicago, I might as well see the course, I bet its nice.  So, I started running and after about a mile I was tempoing pretty hard--I managed to have a decent run actually considering I was getting sympathy claps the whole time.

So, the race didnt turn out as planned but it was still awesome to see the whole Chobani Fit triathlon team there!  We got pictures with everyone (and Hunter Kemper, the race winner) and I think I ate like 8 cups of Chobani yogurt.  Yummy.



Oh, well it wasnt a total disaster I guess, I got to see Chicago and had a great time with my homestay (as usual, homestays are the best way to travel to races).  And go figure, my flight home was eventful as well.  As it turns out, the Bennetts as well as Cam Dye were on my flight!  I had never talked to Cameron so it was nice to officially meet him.

By the wings of Hermes:

Later when we were back to Denver we were all waiting for our bike boxes to come out.  Greg Bennett was complaining about how as he gets older he parks closer and closer to the terminal so he doesnt have to deal with walking that far (in his old age har har).  I pointed out that I still ride the bus to and from the airport...  After the three of them gave me a hard time for a bit, Greg agreed to take me home.

Talk about a way to finish the weekend--a ride home from the airport with Greg and Laura.  I must say, triathlon abilities aside, they are some of the nicest people I have ever met.  Both are just sweethearts!  It has been a real pleasure to get to know them at the pool the last two summers and I am glad to have finally had a chance to talk to them.  Sometimes Boulder offers real opportunities you dont find anywhere else.  #starstruck

Rudy