UA TriCats Nationals Success

Two weekends ago Jill and I flew out to Lubbock for the USAT Collegiate National Championships and the 2012 Olympic Talent ID race. The trip out was fun—we took a Cessna out there. Quicker than a car and no hassles with TSA. Well worth it. We drove our car to the airplane, loaded up (including bikes) and flew away. No screening, no strip search, no bike fees. Nice.

The prep and race went well. The TriCats were ready. Race morning was cold and the day got windy, but the training the TriCats had been doing covered the wind and hills. This is a tough course, the same course as the Buffalo Springs Lake tri in July.

The water was rough, so the stronger swimmers had a better day. Thanks to the TriCats swim coaches for excellent work all year to make sure we went in as strong as can be. We had driven the course and talked about strategy, so the athletes knew what to do. As the day turned out, all 14 who participated had good races. We had 2 guys and 2 girls in the top 40. Andy and Alex were the top TriCats guys finishing in 36th and 38th overall, while our top women were Nicole and Maddie (30th and 37th). In team points, the TriCats were 12th overall (9th for the guys and 17th for the ladies). This is the best finish in recent TriCats history, and considered a great victory with our young team. Congrats, TriCats!

In the 2012 ID race, GEC athlete Kathy Rakel had a great race. She was out of the water in the middle of the group, but caught up to the lead bike pack at the beginning of the third lap. She came off the bike in the lead, creating quite a buzz with USAT and the spectators. She ran extremely well, finishing 2nd among the tough competitors. This was a draft-legal, ITU-style sprint race to see who’s got the talent to become Olympic hopefuls. Kathy does! Many congrats to her!

After, Jill and I had the freedom to fly over and spend a day in Abilene, then on home. The headwind was tough for the return trip, but it still beat driving. And holy cow Texas is flat from 6500 feet!

Road Racing

Last week, the doc shot my ankle up with cortisone. (Does this mean I’m juicing?) Then he said, “go forth and see if it worked.” Here’s test #1…

On my ride in to work on Saturday, I remembered about a criterium race going on that afternoon. I commute on my cyclocross bike—not the best for a crit. Thank God for cell phones: “hey Jill, can you meet me at UA with my race bike? No reason…why do you ask?” I ride from work to UA, meet her, quick change onto the road bike and line up.

My previous training, due to the leg and ankle issues, was this: a good off-season/transition period from May 4, 2007 until March 09, then 250 miles the week of my training camp, then 4 weeks of “recovery.” Not exactly text-book. I hadn’t done a crit since college, but it’s just like, well, riding a…never mind. There was screaming, torturous pain, bleeding through the eyes, and wishes for this thing to be over. That was the warm up…then the race started. Normally I’m pretty good about knowing where I am in a race, but it took everyone after the race telling me before I realized I finished in the lead pack. Not bad for my 5th ride in a month, and the 3rd in 2 days.

I always talk about taking the small victories away from any event, so here we go. 1) the rubber side stayed down; 2) I was able to stay in the lead pack; 3) I learned you don’t go off the front when the pack slows up. Take that time to rest. Those of you who’ve done crits are either shaking your head or laughing at that. I’ll sum up the crit this way: Crits are the Devil.

Sunday was the road race. It’s only 36 miles with one little climb, so says the course map. On lap 1 I realize that climb is something Sir Edmund Hilary had trouble on. People were walking their bikes. No kidding. Really. I didn’t bring my climbing legs, mainly because I don’t have any anymore. Lap 1 I’m with the main pack. I’m in the “red zone” but no problem. Lap 2 I’m struggling a bit on the climb but catch back up on the descent. Red zone still. Lap 3 is like lap 2 but I’m a bit further back. I move from red zone to purple. I didn’t know there was a purple zone. Lap 4 I never see the pack again. Where’s the chase pack when you need them? No I’m into the plaid zone (no Oxygen…remember Chuck Yeager’s F-104 flight in The Right Stuff???) Lap 5 I begin to curse the climb and my legs, what’s left of them. I go numb on the climb. Lap 6 I scream “Dear Lord take me now!” in agony all the way up. Ambulances follow me to make sure I make it. I see Elvis.

Victories: 1) The chase pack never catches me and I finish around 8th or 9th. This would put me in the top 10 for overall GC between Saturday and Sunday. 2) Thanks to Q-Rings for giving me the “power” to get up the hills. With my fitness level, I should have joined those climbing on foot. 3) Hammer Nutrition got me through with no issues again. 4) ZOOT compression gear was my friend this afternoon, and the only way I’ll be able to recover quickly.

The ankle? So far, so good. When’s the next race???

TRIFEST and Dave Scott

TRIFEST was a big hit this year (March 6-8). It started with a ride up Mt Lemmon in Friday, although after a 7-day training camp, I could only muster the strength to hit mile 5. That did cap off 250 miles that week though. It was a good ride--must have been 150 people.

Saturday and Sunday held the conference and expo with clinics. The conference had an 'A' list of speakers, from aerodynamics specialists Steve Hed and folks from Zipp, to professional and Olympic athletes, to the sports best coaches. The clinics on the expo floor held the shorter talks by notables such as, well, me.

Grasky Endurance Coaching manned a booth in the expo. It was a good time to talk with athletes, get out info on our upcoming training camps, and give away goodies. The other expo booths housed the who's who in the triathlon world--manufacturers sharing the new '09 stuff, retailers showing off their stuff, and coaches, races and causes.

Friday night also held the keynote address. Before that, the TRIFEST sponsors were recognized. Grasky Endurance Coaching was recognized as a sponsor of this years' TRIFEST. So far, we've sponsored both years of TRIFEST, and looking forward to the next years and the growth in the sport TRIFEST will bring. Later, I got the chance to briefly speak with Dave Scott, the keynote speaker (and triathlon legend, 6-time Ironman World Champion, and overall nice guy). Dave spoke with my collegiate triathlon team a while ago, when we were both focused on racing--it was good to chat at him again now as we're both on the coaching side.

Rubber side down,
Brian

Whirlwind!

Another whirlwind these last few months for Grasky Endurance, which included the ICTN Camp in January, the UA Tricats Camp in February, and the Tucson Base Training Camp and Trifest in March. Whew! Time for a break!

For the past few years, Brian and I have volunteered to help organize the International Christian Triathlon Network’s Annual Camp, which was held in Tucson this year. It’s a 3 day camp which brings in triathlete pastors along with several Christian pros, and regular ol’ triathletes looking for Christian fellowship. About half of the day is spent in small group settings learning about anything from bike maintenance to mental focus. There’s also some sort of worship service each day. Then, we train…(ok, not me since I’m STILL injured). Instead, this year I was the photographer. It’s a lot of fun and is great fellowship, and will be held again next year in Tucson. Check back in a few months for more information on our site (or ICTN’s site) about this great camp.

February brought the UA Tricats Camp up in Fountain Hills, AZ. I’d be dishonest if I said that I had anything to do with the organizing of this camp. This was all Brian and it went superb. He’s working with a pretty good group of athletes this year from the UA. The camp was situated around the Trisports.com Desert Classic Duathlon at McDowell Mountain Park. It was the first year I wasn’t able to go ride the trails all day. Instead, I went hiking to help strengthen my vastus medialus in my right leg. McDowell Mountain Park is seriously one of the most beautiful desert parks, especially in the spring. It’s so green everywhere. If you haven’t spent any time there, I highly recommend it. It’s amazing, and has a sweet mountain bike track.

The Tucson Training Camp just finished up with great success. We had 13 campers this year and their ability levels all meshed together well. We had two coaches at the camp, Brian (now a USAT Level II coach), and a coach from Connecticut, and then Bill, who is a Grasky Endurance coach and swim expert, came out for a couple of days. A HUGE thanks to Bill for his expertise! My job was to organize everything prior to the camp as well as take care of airport transport. Again, the annoying knee problem I’m dealing with prevented me from helping out with the rides this year…other than driving sag, which I usually do a great deal of anyway—luckily I really enjoy it! This year I had a helper along with me…our webmaster Brian…yes, another Brian. He was a huge help (and hilarious to hang out with) and took pictures along the way for our new website. A HUGE thanks to Brian as well. Thanks also to all of the campers who gave us feedback about the camp. It is our sincerest desire to provide a great camp, and Brian, Bill, and myself already have several ideas to make it much better for next year. More to come on that…

Lastly Tri-fest. Wow, Oley really worked hard at Trifest and did a fantastic job. Thanks to Oley and all of his work. Our Grasky Endurance booth went pretty well, but I think next year will be better. Each year we’re learning how to improve things and the booth is one of those.

Now that we have a break, Brian and I actually have Brian/Jill time scheduled for this weekend…possibly a hike in Sabino Canyon, or maybe the Titan Missile Museum. It’s nice to relax every once in a while. After 12 years of marriage sometimes we forget about “couple” time, but we’re really enjoying it this week. Again, a sincere thank you to everyone who supports Grasky Endurance. Be watching for some major changes to come about in the upcoming year with the business.

Trifest 2009

Well it has come and gone and needless to say Trifest 2009 was a great adventure for Grasky Endurance. It was a bit tiring for all of us (especially Brian and Jill) since we were coming off of a full week camp with Eric Hodska. However, somehow Jill managed to keep everything together and make sure that GEC was set up for a strong presence at Trifest. Unfortunately the Expo kept us plenty busy so we did not get much of a chance to participate in the conference but word was that several of the topics were outstanding.

The Expo was actually held on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday this year and due to tremendous growth it was moved to the Tucson Convention Center. We were fortunate to be set up near our friends from the Tucson Tri Club as well as close to our favorite partner TriSports.com. However, Brian made sure to make his rounds throughout the entire Expo in an effort to network with all of our triathlon friends. We were also set up just across the way from Oasis pools who brought in an Endless pool for anyone to use. We took advantage of this offer by hosting a 2 hour swim analysis for free, on both Saturday and Sunday, for anyone who wanted to sign up at our booth. Oasis loved it because it brought some nice crowds over to their display and we had a great time working with several athletes. We are hoping to set up a Endless pool challenge next year along with Oasis pools so stay tuned for that adventure!!!

One of the highlights of my weekend was finally getting a chance to swim in a Zoot Zenith 2.0 wetsuit. I have been sponsored by blueseventy for the past 2 years and the switch to Zoot was making me a little nervous due to my success with blueseventy. Well, my initial thought is I can't wait for the first tri of the season. The Zenith felt outstanding. It has tremendous flexibility through the shoulders but still provides the buoyancy that you expect from a full wetsuit. My swim was brief but if first impressions are worth anything then I think I am going to be super pleased with the switch to Zoot.

With these fast wetsuits and lightning fast Zoot racing shoes, we have no excuses but to be fast this year (now everyone will know it is because we were too lazy to train-or maybe we can just use the excuse that we were too busy training our athletes to have time to train ourselves!!).

For those of you who got a chance to drop by our booth, thanks for coming by and supporting GEC. For those of you who could not make it this year, put Trifest 2010 on your calendar because this is really an amazing event. We hope to see you soon and remember- Shift Up!!!