Lake Murray Triathlon Race Report

Well, it was the 3rd race in 3 weeks and I was as excited as ever to race. I just never get tired of it. I think I could do it every weekend if my body and family would allow it! But my body and family are telling me it’s time for some rest and rehab.

Back to the race: This weekend was a family affair so we got early (overslept nonetheless), quickly packed up the kids and gear and headed off to the race site. I got setup and took care of all necessary business with just enough time for quick swim warm up.

Being a sprint (750m swim) the whole race can be decided on the swim, so the plan was to go hard from start to finish. This race always draws a very strong field of athletes and Sunday was no exception. Floating in the unusually calm water I had a look around and surveyed the swim talent … Mike Wendt, Woody, Dan Moss, Chris Olson, Herbie Reeves. All these dudes can put time on me in the water; the plan was to try to limit the damage to put me in a good position to pass Wendt, Herbie and Woody on the bike. I figured I wouldn’t be able to catch Dan Moss or Chris on the bike. I thought I’d out-swim Parker but he’d pass me early on the bike. I intended to out-swim Cameron and hopefully keep him behind me. Last year Cameron and I swam stroke for stroke and then he flew past me on the bike.

Anyway, back to the race …

I took it out pretty hard and quickly got to that almost-uncomfortably-hard level and kept it there. Sighting was great, I stayed on the back of the front pack until sometime after the first turn and then swam the rest solo. Exiting the water someone from the crowed shouted out that I was 30 seconds back to the front. I looked down at my watch and saw 10 minutes something. I hit the lap button as I crossed the mat into transition right at 11 minutes. That was over 1 minute faster than last year. I was pretty stoked. The thing I was wrong about was out-swimming Parker; he really improved his swim which WAS his only weakness.

Running into transition I saw the lead swimmers at the rack getting wetsuits off and helmets on. I think at this point I was too concerned about the “race” and lost concentration on what I needed to be doing. When I got to my bike I hadn’t even begun to take my wetsuit off. That was a big mistake and cost some major time. Last year my t1 was 28 seconds, this year was 1:09. That’s HUGE in a sprint race!


Once out on the bike I pretty quickly made my way past Herbie and a few miles later, Mike Wendt as planned. It wasn’t long before I could see Woody up the road. It took nearly to whole ride to catch him but I eventually overtook with less than a mile to the finish.


I rode strong but regret taking the disk cover off which I think would have been advantageous. The wind was really strong the day before the race so I made the call to pull it off. I ended up with the 4th fastest bike split behind Parker, Chris and Dan.

Joe took this video on his handy iPhone

As you can see from the video my lead on Mark was minimal coming into T2. Again, it was a poor transition on my part. You can’t really hammer coming back into the park but I didn’t take advantage of that by getting out of my shoes on the bike. Well, Mark did and was able to pass me in T2 to take back 4th place and get about 40 meters ahead starting the run.

Once out on the run I wasn’t bringing Woody back at all, in fact he was expanding the gap. We looked to be close at the first out-and-back with Cameron chasing about a minute behind me but by the time I reached the turn around Mark had gained a good bit of ground and seemed to be running down the hills very fast.

Nearing the end of the run I checked to see if Cameron was in sight, which he wasn’t much to my relief. I finished with a good kick … perhaps too good. I’m thinking I left too much in the tank for that kick! I ended up with the 8th fastest run in 18:47.

Joe caught me looking back for Cameron on the iPhone

So I ended up in 5th place with a pretty sloppy race really. I need to be a little more focused on the details – which I will. But the swim was really good, the bike was good, and the run was so-so. I have a bit of an injury that’s kept me from running (except for racing) over the last few weeks so I attribute my not-so-stellar run split to diminishing run fitness.

There still seems to be a sizable gap between me (as well as a few others) and the top 3 guys in the series. But it’s closing! I love the process … I love the challenge. Slowly but surely I’m closing in … I know what needs to be done to get to the very top and (I hope) I’m figuring out how to do it. I’m already excited for the 2011 season of racing.

‘Til next race - Nick

Try Charleston Half Race Report

Try Charleston Half Race Report

Result: 7th place, 5th Open, 4:31:34

I learned at lot from this race. And as the saying goes, you learn from your mistakes. While I’m somewhat disappointed in my placing and finish time, I know I’ve made gains because of it. It’s also important to note that many people were in the same boat as me … caught off guard by the difficulty of the conditions and course and therefore suffered badly on the run. I was in good company!

In contrast, seeing how Peter Kotland’s race unfolded was very insightful. He executed really well and I learned a lot seeing how he approached this race.

Overall Jennifer and I had a great time and it was nice to take a break from the daily routine of mommy and daddy. Chris Olson rode down with us and his wife, Laura, drove down a few hours later. Once at the race site we met up with Chuck Hiers and had a few beers at his camper. After a fairly average seafood dinner we headed back to the two bedroom suite we’d rented with the Olson’s and hit the sack.

On to the race:

We had a pretty large wave of Open and Masters Open men starting the swim together. I lined up behind a few guys including race favorite and eventual winner Kevin Lisska. I figured Lisska, Chris Olson, David Hall and Mike Wendt would go off the front and open a bit of a gap to a second group with me and Peter. I was right, by the first turn a gap had opened that couldn’t be closed and Peter and I stayed close through the first lap.


Once we hit the turn for the second lap I was right on Peter’s feet but all bets were off. By that point other waves had started their race and the traffic was heavy requiring careful navigation between and around bodies. I came out of the water in 26 and change with Peter 15 seconds ahead, although I made it out of transition first.


Once out on the bike I quickly settled into a pace that felt strong but comfortable. My HR stayed pretty jacked up for awhile in the 170s but after a few miles started to come down into the 160s. I looked back after about 5 or 6 minutes and didn’t see anyone.

By mile 11 I could see a group of 3 riders ahead. By mile 13 I’d passed David Hall. Soon after that I passed Mike Wendt and then around mile 17 I passed another guy I didn’t know. Once I gotten past the group of fish, I figured I was sitting in 3rd place but didn’t know for sure. The last guy I passed increased his pace and stayed on my wheel for about 5 miles before fading away.

Soon enough I was nearing the turn around and could see Chris leading with Lisska a few meters behind him. This confirmed that I was in third place which made me very happy! Shortly thereafter I was at the turn around and heading back into a cross headwind. This gave me the opportunity to see how much lead I had on the guys behind me. There was a group of 4 or 5 about 3 minutes back with the rest strung out behind them. At this point I decided to put as much time between myself and them as possible on the bike and see if I could hold them off on the run (mistake!!).


The rest of the ride continued to be a very lonely affair. I couldn’t see anyone ahead or behind and apart from passing group of roadies out for their Saturday morning group ride I didn’t have contact with anyone. At exactly mile 35 my Garmin 310xt locked up. I fiddled with it a little bit and then resolved myself to finish out the ride on perceived exertion not knowing HR, speed, distance etc. It didn’t bother me too much as I don’t rely on technology very often in training. It is quite possible though that I was riding harder than I should have from mile 35 – 56 with nothing but my thoughts driving me to get a big cushion of time. The last 6 miles of the ride were very difficult mentally and physically due to a steady headwind. I ended up with the 4th fastest bike split behind the two leaders Chris and Lisska and a hard-charging G-Man coming from behind. Thanks again Harrell's for the super-fast setup.


Getting off the bike I felt pretty good. The turn over was great and the crowd support in the fist ¼ mile was awesome. Running without the Garmin I’d have to rely on mile markers and my watch for splits. The first split I was interested in was my lead-time on the group behind me. A few minutes into the run and along comes a group of 4 or 5 on the bike. Kotland was in the group and flashed a big smile as he passed by. I figured I had about 5 minutes on them and knew I needed to have a strong and steady run to keep them behind me.

The first 4 miles clicked off pretty well at about 6:30 per mile. When I crossed paths with Lisska I could see that he’d opened a pretty big gap on Chris. A few minutes later I crossed paths with Chris. Shortly after I tried to stretch my quad by kicking my heel high and instantly the hamstring locked up in a cramp. That gave me the realization things were starting to turn south.

The first turn around was near mile 5 I think. Coming back the other direction I could see that Kotland and a few others were closing the gap to me and I was starting to really struggle to keep the legs turning over. Around mile 6.5 Peter caught me and went flying by. I had no illusions of trying to keep pace as he seemed to be running very strong and I was really beginning to suffer. Things started to get a little fuzzy at this point. I wasn’t all there in my mind … I was saying “good job” to the police officers and volunteers instead of “thank you” and was having a hard time doing the mathematical projections for my run slit, time left and finish time. I crossed paths Joe Dannelly and he said he was “praying me up”. I remember being very grateful because I certainly needed it!

From there it was pure survival mode. The rest of the run seemed to drag on FOREVER as the temperature was rising. From mile 13 to the finish was especially hard because it was actually like 1.4 miles, a cruel twist of fate. My pace had dropped to a near 8 minute shuffle. In addition to Kotland, 3 other guys came past me between mile 8 and the finish, dropping me back to 7th place.


Chris had an even worse run than me but had such a big lead coming off the bike that it only cost him 1 position and left him with the 3rd place podium spot. Peter had run his way to 2nd place by making up and erasing the 13 minute lead Chris had on him coming off the bike and putting another minute between them. Amazing! That’s a lesson in pacing the bike.

After the race we had a great time hanging out with friends, talking, eating and drinking. Unfortunately Chris was in a bad way and ended up in the ambulance getting IV fluids before he started to feel better. Jennifer and I went back to the hotel for a little R&R before heading out for a nice steak dinner at Longhorn and a few hours of shopping. What can I say, we’re troopers!

A recap of mistakes I made and things I’ve learned:

- Hydrate well before a long race. Don’t drink just coffee the morning of the race and lay off the beer the night before.
- Pacing on the bike is very important. Ride hard enough to put myself in a good position to start the run but easy enough to run near my best.
- Do more long rides in training so I’m not so fatigued coming off the bike
- Possibly lower my heart rate range for half iron racing.

Langley Pond Sprint Triathlon Race Report

This is a super fun race that I’ve done twice before and I was so stoked to get to overall win. This was the second win of the 2010 season in only my second race. I have a feeling the streak ends next weekend at the Charleston Half where the competition will be ON!

Back in 2007, it was my very first triathlon ever. At the time I was thrilled to not be last in my age group and instead finished right in the middle. The following year (2008) I raced the international distance on a very stormy day where the bike course was shortened due to flooding. Last year I raced the sprint distance again and finished 2nd overall. This year it was once again rainy but without the thunder and lightening of 2008.

Pre-race went pretty smooth even though I let the family sleep-in to the very last minute before rousing them to get on the road down to Aiken, not giving myself much time to do all the pre-race stuff. But I finished setting up with plenty of time for a swim warm-up.

One of the things I like about this race is the beach start. I love running into the water and doing a couple of dolphin dives until the water is deep enough to start swimming. Once swimming I easily found a good rhythm with my breathing and was at the front of the group. There I sat with no one in front of me for about 250 meters before I was passed by Katharine Welling at which time I promptly got on her feet and tried hard to stay there.

Rounding the second turn back to shore she took what seem to me a strange line off to the right. At that point I decided to follow my own line to shore. I’m not sure if mine was better, worse or indifferent but by the time we reached the shore she had 20 seconds on me with everyone else several minutes back. I was 3rd fastest in the water. Gotta give big props to Katharine, she beat all the men and women with the fastest swim of the day!


Off on the bike I made my way up the 2 mile 4% grade and onto the rollers where I passed a few age group guys from the international distance race. I knew I was in the lead at that point but didn’t know by how much so I just kept pushing. I took the turns very carefully hoping not to get loose on the wet and somewhat sandy intersections. Once again the Scott Plasma did me really well with the fastest bike split of the day (thanks Harrell’s!!).


The crowd support was awesome coming in and out of T2. I made my way around the field and back onto the main road where I was able to get an assessment of my lead as the rest of the guys were coming in from the bike. It looked to be several minutes so I just set a solid pace until I could get another time check after the first turn around.

The turn around wasn’t where I expected as it had been pushed back quite a bit. Heading back towards the park I crossed paths with my competition once again and it seemed my lead had grown some. At that point I knew the win was in the bag and that I'd gapped the rest of the field by several minutes so I just enjoyed the rest of the notably-longer-than-5k run. 3rd fastest run with a moderately hard effort.


As I came down the finishing shoot I saw my wife, kids and mom standing out in then rain to cheer me in. I'm really blessed to have such supportive family and friends.



As for the athletes I train, I’m so proud of these guys. Every one of them puts in solid training and just keeps getting better and better.

Chuck Hiers: 5th overall in the sprint, 2nd place Open

Jason Thomas: 6th overall in the sprint with the 2nd fastest run and 3rd place in his age group.

Joe Dannelly: 2nd place Clydesdale, 18th overall in the sprint

Chip Edgar: completed his first International distance in 2hrs 45min with the 18th fastest swim.

Downtown Columbia Triathlon Race Report

My friend Jason Thomas spent the night with us and we got to the race site fairly early, around 7:00 Am, to set up the FCA-E booth in the expo area. As we were carrying the ez-up down the flight of stairs that leads to the intramural field beside the Blatt PE center I had a bit of an accident. Somehow I didn't see the last step on the stairs and kinda stepped on it halfway. The ankle gave way quickly and down I went. Graceful!! Jason put it best when he said, "Not a great way to start the day"

At first I thought it wasn't too bad and wouldn't bother me too much. As time went on it just got worse an worse. The swelling was getting larger by the minute. I rounded up some pain meds and Biofreeze from Chuck and Jason and, after setting up transition, went back to the truck and set about trying to do what I could for it.

I sent an update to twitter about my misfortune and got to praying. "Lord, this is crazy ... what's going on here?" "Is it just a weird accident?" "Should I race? Should I pull out?" "What if I can't run?" "I expected to do well at this race .." "I wanted to podium at least ..." "This sucks!" "Maybe this is for the best ... maybe I was going to get run over by a car and this is saving my life" 'Maybe not ..."

I decided to just do the best I could and see what happens.

Chuck and I went out for a cruise on the bike around the course with a few pickups and then a short run. The foot felt fine on the bike but was pretty painful on the run, especially downhill.

Thankfully I had plenty of time to do a swim warm up. The foot was quite painful in the fully elongated position while swimming and my toes went numb.

I swam beside one of my competition and noticed I was faster. Good. Flip turns under lane lines were solid.

The start came quick and I was too discombobulated to reset and start my watch so I was racing without knowing my splits. My lane mate was a no-show so I wouldn't get or give any help ... fine with me.

And I was off. "I’m gonna fight ‘em off. A seven nation army couldn’t hold me back …" ringing in my head.

People lining the wall. I wonder what they are thinking? Find a rhythm. Strong a steady.

First flip turn under lane line ... perfect.

After a lap or two I start looking for my competition. Someone is gaining on me. Strong and steady. Someone is on my feet. Someone's tapping my feet. Be polite, do a touch turn at the next wall and let 'em go and then get on their feet and stay there.

Last lap already? Get out quick and get the suit halfway down before you get to the bike.

Dang, what's Herbie doing? I'll pass him in transition, that'll work!

Running out of transition with my bike I see David Hall up ahead. That's who passed me in the water. He's stopping at the mount/dismount line and mounting his bike . Flying mount for me and I get back few of those seconds he took on the swim.

Onto the bike and straight into some climbing. He's not climbing that well. I'll get him quick.

"Another one bites the dust …"

Sitting in second place now. I tried hard to put some time between David and myself on the climb. Once onto the flat section heading towards Gervais I can see Woody up the road a ways.

I noticed I'm gaining on him on flat part of Gervais into a headwind. I'm turning a big gear, head down, grunting with lots of snot and slobber coming out of my nose and mouth.

On Harden heading into 5 points I gained even more time on him. I'm not far behind him by the time we make the right onto Blossom. Cool, there's a motorcycle leading the way. I pass him on Blossom and tell him "good job". Now I'm in the lead. Looking down at the speedometer, it reads 31.5 mph on the flats. The headwind on Gervais is a cross/tailwind on Blossom.

Back by the Blatt for lap 2 and the motorcycle pulls off. Some age group athletes are coming onto the bike course now. I blast past them and up the hill again. This is fun!

Onto the flat section heading to Gervais, Woody has matched my pace and is not too far back. An SUV nearly runs me over as it pulls into the closed lane. I pass it on the right and waive my arms like lunatic. Woody is still back there.

Back to the flat section of Gervais with the headwind. Between here and Blossom is where I made time on him on the first lap. I'll put some time on him here again. By the turn back onto Wheat I don't see him back there anymore. Cool! I'll have a lead going into the run. But first I have to keep the throttle on for one more lap.

I wonder how Bryan is riding? He started 40 seconds behind me I think which makes it really hard to figure out how the race is unfolding at the time.

The last lap was blur, just trying to go as hard as possible, avoid traffic, and get as much lead-time going into the run as I could.

Coming back into transition the volunteers didn't see me until I was right there. Quick dismount and I see my father-in-law and son cheering me on as I run to my rack. My son is screaming and cheering ... very excited. That gives me a big boost of energy as I head out on the run.


The run starts out with an uphill section which doesn't feel great on the legs coming off the bike. It feels like I'm running really hard but very slow. I have no idea what pace I'm running - I need to get another Garmin!

Once I got up the hill and onto walking bridge I started to settle into a rhythm and began accessing how much of a lead I had on Woody. I could see him behind me about 20 seconds back. But he started 10 seconds in front so I figured I was 30 seconds ahead.

Foot was hurting with every stride but wasn't intolerable. After the turn-around I got a little better assessment of the field. It looked like Woody was gaining back some time but not much. I figured I could hold him off. I expected to see Bryan and David sooner, but it looked like Bryan was moving really fast. I figured I had done enough on the swim and bike to hold him off too.

Back at the Blatt I once again caught the volunteers off guard. Thankfully Al from Go Tri Sports popped out the booth and kept me on course up the stairs and over the last foot bridge and around the block. I cruised it home and when I entered the intramural field my son was waiting to run it in with me. He kept the sub 6 pace for the remaining 100 yards or so and we crossed the line together. What a feeling!! Simply awesome.





What a start to 2010 ... first race and first win!

It IS about the bike

Well, this post at least. With all this talk about running lately it is easy to forget that my strongest discipline has historically been the bike. We'll see if that holds true this season! I've done an awful lot of work on my run and it's undoubtedly brought me to whole "'nuther level", which was the goal for the offseason and preseason.. And the past few weeks my swim partner and I have been seeing our benchmarks drop steadily in the wake of bringing big intensity to our workouts. Anyway, back to the bike. A true work of beauty ...

A HUGE thanks to Harrell's Bicycle World!

Matching color schemes for the boys' race bikes (excuse the messy garage):