Chicago Triathlon Race Report and Results

On Sunday August 30th I competed in my peak race for the year, the Chicago Triathlon. This was my 3rd and final pro-qualifying race of the year. At each of these races the top 3 from the Elite Amateur races can turn professional. My first one, at Hy-Vee, I was 20th, my 2nd one in Minneapolis I was 12th. In Chicago I was hoping to build on that with a top 10 finish. Jen, Payton, and I made the drive to Chicago on Friday night and stayed with my good friend Zeb Gilliam and his wife. On Saturday I picked up my packet and went for a short run with Zeb. My wave would be the first one to start the Olympic Distance race at 7:28 a.m. on Sunday. I was able to manage about 5 hours of sleep before waking up at 3:30 a.m. on Sunday. I had my typical pre-race favorite breakfast of a belgium waffle with peanut butter and syrup before getting my things packed up and heading to the race course. The transition area closes before the sun comes up at 5:45. I had plenty of time to walk through the massive transition area to find the most direct route in and out of both transitions. This is important in a race where there are 9,000 bikes racked. It would be easy to skip this small detail and struggle to find my bike or my running shoes. I would be competing in the Elite Amateur race with about 110 guys. I got a good warm-up of 2 miles running and some drills and strides before putting the wet suit on. They do not allow swim warm-ups in Chicago since they have sprint race waves going in starting at 6:30 a.m.

Swim: I knew the swim start would be very crowded. There were about 110 Elite males and 60 elite females in my wave. The swim start isn't very wide so it makes for a very rough start. I tried to hug the wall all the way on the right so I could use my new swim technique in which I breath to my left. I've found I rotate much more efficiently when I breath to my left. I got out hard and the first couple hundred yards was pretty intensely crowded but after that it got much easier. We began by swimming south for about 375 yards before making the turn around the bouey to swim back past where we started. After making the turn I was swimming on the left side. I really didn't draft on anyone's feet during the swim. I tried to focus on my own rhythm and I felt pretty good. I had one mishap where I ran into a bouey and hit it pretty hard. After that I got back into my rhythm. I exited the water in 57th place. My time out of the water was 21:30 but our swim time runs until we reach the transition area which is about 500 yards away. I was 23:13 when I hit transition which was about a minute and a half faster than last year. I was feeling pretty good about this.

Bike: Out on the bike I spotted a great triathlete from Illinois, Ryan Giuliano riding next to me. Ryan is a pro duathlete who like me has a weakness in the swim. We exchanged leads numerous times on the bike being careful to stay out of the draft zone as our wave had been warned before the start that there would be 15 marshalls on the course watching the Elite Amateur race for rule infractions. I was passing lots of riders from the elite wave early. The first 6 miles was into the wind which was blowing at about 13 mph right into our faces. When we made the turn the speed quickly went from 24 mph to about 29 on the way back. The course is two loops on Lake Shore Drive. It is very flat with a few potholes that can cause for some scary moments on the bike. After one loop someone yelled that we were in 22nd place. I had moved up considerably on the first lap and knew I had a shot at reaching my goal of being in the top 10 by races end. On the 2nd loop the Elites were more spread out. I pushed hard on this lap and finished up the bike ride with a split of 58:21. This came out to a 26.0 mph average since the course is a few tenths of a mile long. My bike ranking was 4th out of the Elite Amateurs. This was a new best average for me and my first time breaking an hour over 40 kilometers. When I got off the bike I was in 16th place.

Run: I tried to follow Ryan Giuliano's torrid pace through transition 2 and it led to one of the faster transition times of the day. I knew he was an amazing runner and I wouldn't be seeing him for long. Out on the run I put the Garmin GPS watch on to monitor my pace. I was hoping to average 5:35 per mile. I went through the first mile in about 5:28 and I had already moved into 11th. My pace started to slow just after the 2 mile mark but I continued gaining on some of the guys in front of me. The turnaround in Chicago is about 3.5 miles into the race. At that point I was able to count the guys in front of me. I was in 8th place at the time with a couple guys close behind me. I had been passed by a guy that I caught back up to and sat on for the next two miles. My pace had slowed to about 5:45 and I was getting some small cramps in my hamstrings. I moved into 6th place with about a mile to go and started pushing really hard. With a half mile left I knew I had a good shot at breaking 2 hours which was my other big goal. I passed another guy to move into 5th but there were 3 still really close to me. I pushed hard the last 1/2 mile and was passed by one of the guys I had passed earlier in the last 100 meters. He came flying by me and my legs were trashed so there was no response. I wanted to go but my hamstring cramps were getting worse by the second. I could hear Zeb and Jen yelling for me with 100 meters to go and I finished up with a total time of 1:59:24. This was a PR for me by almost 3 minutes. My run time was 35:21 (5:42 pace) which also ranked 4th of the elite amateurs. Complete results from the elite amateur race with splits can be found at http://results.active.com/pages/searchform.jsp?&rsID=82900&queryType=division&page=1&numPerPage=25&posted_p=t&showCustom=true Although I didn't hit the pro qualification I was thrilled with the race. I went in knowing I probably would not be in the top 3. I was hoping for top 10 so to get 6th was a great race for me. My time was almost 6 minutes faster than last year which reflects the past 10 months of hard work. As my first season of year round training comes to a close I'm proud of the progress I was able to make. Although I have yet to hit the pro-qualification I believe I am capable of doing so at the 1/2 Ironman Distance. I have lots of work to do. It won't be easy. I'm excited about the progress I made in the Olympic Distance pro-qualifying races going from 20th to 12th to 6th in the 3 I did this summer. Next year I'll move up distances and make the 1/2 Ironman my focus. For now I'll keep training for a couple weeks but without near the focus or intensity. I'm planning to do a small local race in a couple weeks. I have to thank my sponsors, Kaminski Pain and Performance Care, Healthy Habits, and Zipp for helping make this year a big success. Without you this progress wouldn't have been possible. I saw Dr. Kaminski for some ART on Thursday that had me feeling great on race day. Healthy Habits gave my bike a super tune-up and had it ready to race my fastest bike split ever and that was aided with the world's fastest wheels...Zipp! Mostly I'd like to thank my wife Jen for her support through the first year of this journey. She has given me unbelievable support in training to prepare for the success that has come this season. I also want to thank the many people who sent me encouraging e-mails, phone calls, or comments on the blog. Thanks to all of you who read this. I hope my journey has been able to inspire you to DREAM BIG!

The Big Taper...

It's been 42 weeks since I began this journey on November 3rd. I had penciled in the Chicago Triathlon to be my peak race for the year. That race is now just 1 week away.
The Numbers: 468,250 swim yards, 4,608 bike miles, 1,567 run miles, 95 trips to the weight room, over 150 sessions of core work.
These numbers don't tell the story however. I have an e-mail that has sat in my inbox since August 25, 2008. The e-mail was one I sent to myself the day after the Chicago Triathlon a year ago. I had just decided that I wanted to stop coaching so I could train year round. In the e-mail I sent myself 9 specific training goals for this year. I accomplished every one of them except for one which was to run 33:30 in the 10k on the track in April. I had planned to run one in April but that is when I was injured with the cyst on my achilles tendon. The other 8 I have been able to check off. More important than the numbers is the mental toughness I have gained from the numbers. I am more confident going into Chicago than I have ever been going into a race. This week I had my best workout ever on the track. Tuesday I ran a 400, 800, 1200, 1200, 800, and 400. I averaged 4:57 pace/mile through the workout getting faster as I came back down the ladder. My last 400 was the fastest I ran in a workout since I can't remember when. Today I did a 31 mile ride easy with 10x 1 minute hard periods followed by a minute easy. I averaged over 27 mph on the hard periods. My overall ride was at 22.6 mph which is the fastest training ride I've ever had. When I got off the bike I ran a fast mile in 5:19. All of this leaves me believing that I can go under 2 hours next Sunday while placing in the top 10 of the Elite Amateur race. This is the one I hoped to have a peak performance at. The hard work is finished...my mind is ready to race...it's going be great! Thanks for following. DREAM BIG!

Du State Duathlon Race Report and Results

On Sunday, August 16th I raced in the 20th Annual Du State Duathlon which was held at Loud Thunder Forest Preserve just outside of Andalusia, IL. This event is put on by our local Cornbelt Running Club and Quad City Bike Club. 131 individuals and teams braved the threats of heavy rain for this event. I've done this event a few times before and it is always fun. I have used this race as a tune-up for Chicago the last few years. Last year I won it in a time of 1 hr. 47 seconds. It came just one week before my race in Chicago so I had a week of taper under my belt at that time. This year the duathlon fell two weeks before Chicago so I have not yet begun my taper. I traveled to the race with my daughter Payton and my wife Jen, who was competing in a relay with local triathlete Laurel Darren. Jen would be doing the running portion but not too hard since she's pregnant and we will be expecting our second child sometime in March.

I looked at this race more as a really tough training workout for the week. I didn't get up as early before the race as I normally do. I was up at 5:30 and was just finishing my breakfast at 6:00 for the 8:00 race which almost proved to be too close to race time for me. We didn't arrive at the park until 45 minutes before the race and I still had to register. I got registered and got my bike racked and had just enough time to put the Zipp jersey on and get a 1.5 mile warm-up run in before the instructions. I had looked at the results from the past races to see what the records were. Jeff Castro had the record with a 57:50 in 2004. The next best was 58:33 in 2001. I didn't think I could go 57:50 but thought 58:33 was a realistic time. The duathlon consists of approximately a 2 mile run, 15 mile bike, and 2 mile run. Both runs are a bit short of 2 miles with the 2nd one being a little shorter than the first.

Run 1: When the gun sounded I found myself in the lead within the first 100 meters. This typically isn't how I like to run. I like to sit back for awhile and feel the race out but no one was setting a very fast pace so I took it. I ran pretty relaxed and my Garmin GPS watch had me averaging about 5:24 pace for the first run. At the turnaround of the run I was not far from the chase pack. I stayed very relaxed through the first run and came in with a time of 10:47 which was the top ranked run of the day. I didn't realize until I saw the results but the chase pack was only 10-15 seconds behind me.

Bike- Out on the bike is where I began to increase my lead. I was riding the Zipp 808 front wheel combined with the Zipp 1080 rear. This wheelset has proved good luck for me as I've raced it twice this year and won both of those races. It's extremely beneficial when it's windy or hilly and we had a little wind and a lot of hills to deal with. This wheelset is very light so it is good for climbing the hills. This is an extremely tough bike course with some long difficult climbs. At the first bike turnaround about 3 miles into the race my lead had grown to 40 seconds. I continued to push the pace and we reached the killer hill going into Illinois City just before the next turnaround at about mile 9. This hill has got to be close to 3/4 mile long. It is a tough grade and was made even tougher with the wind in our face going up it. I was out of the saddle most of the climb and my bike was giving me trouble shifting a bit on the hill. A couple times I almost lost my 2 peanut butter bagels that I ate for breakfast...note to self...stick to the 3 hour rule before a race. When I got to the top of the hill I made my way to the turnaround and timed my lead coming back at 1:20. The next 4 miles were extremely fast with a slight wind at our back until we hit one more really tough hill going back into the park. I had a great running dismount that Jen caught a series of pictures on as she was waiting to go on her second run. My 36:42 bike split was the fastest of the 131 competitors by 2 minutes and 26 seconds.

Run 2: As I was in my last couple miles of the bike I began to realize I had a shot at the course record. I knew it was going to be close but I was starting to pay attention to my watch. After I dismounted I glanced down at my watch and knew I needed to run about 9:50 on the second run. The second one is a bit shorter than the first due to the placement of the finish line. I thought a 10:00 was possible if I had a really good one but 9:50 would be a stretch. Either way, I was going to go after it. I had to do it all alone. I got into a good rhythm early and tried to push the pace. I kept watching the clock as it was getting closer to 57:50, the mark I was aiming for. At the turnaround I knew I needed to come back in about 4:40. I pushed hard and told myself when I got within 2 minutes of the record time I would turn it up one more notch until the finish. I did just that. The last 2 minutes were pretty tough as I watched the clock turn over. I could see the clock at 57:40 but I still had a bit to go. By the time I reached the finish line it was at 57:56, 6 seconds off the record time. Complete results with splits can be found at http://www.cornbelt.org/r/du09spl.htm

I wasn't too disappointed because I orginally didn't think that was a time I was ready to go. I hadn't felt very good training all week as my legs still aren't fully recovered from the training camp I ended a week ago. This time was almost 3 minutes faster than I went last year and it was good enough to win the race this year by 4 minutes and 1 second. My second run ended up being much faster than my first as I ran it in 9:53. It was the fastest ranked 2nd run of the day by 52 seconds.

Jen's relay also won the women's relay division. We were thankful to have some help watching Payton from Jess Zimmer, our high school principal's daughter. Mr. Zimmer completed the duathlon the day after a 20 mile long run he did in preparation for a fall marathon. Congratulations to all the finishers in this year's race. This is one that all finishers should be proud of considering how tough the hills are on the bike course. For me the big taper will begin tomorrow. I had a very quality week of training even with the return to school this week. I cut the volume a bit but did 3 very intense bike rides, swam 10,000 yards, and ran 40.5 miles with a lot of quality and speed work. I'll be cutting back even more over the next two weeks in hopes of a big Olympic Distance PR in Chicago on August 30th. I'm hoping to break 2 hours and be in the top 10 of the Elite Amateur division. My belief on a taper is that less is better as long as the foundation has been built. I've been building the foundation since I began this journey on November 3rd. In that time I've probably only taken 7-10 days where I didn't train at all. I've done the work and now I'll rest up. I have never wished I had done more in a taper but many times I wished I had done less. I'll be cutting my training time down in the range of 7-10 hours the next two weeks which will be about 1/3 of what I was doing a few weeks ago. Thanks for reading and following the journey. DREAM BIG!

Day 10 "10 Days and 10 Nights"

The 2009 version of my camp, "10 Days and 10 Nights" is officially in the books! I have to thank my wife Jen for being a Super Trooper through this camp. I spent a great deal of time training and she was super supportive through the entire camp. She has given me unconditional support through this entire journey and I would not be having the success I am without her. This was the toughest 10 day stretch of training I've ever done. It was extremely tough physically but even more so mentally. Nearly all of the training I did was alone and it made it tough each day to get myself to go out to train on tired legs with a mind that was tired of training. For my last day of camp I began with a 4 mile easy morning run followed by a weight lifting session of 2 sets of 10 on all my lifts. As I reduce the reps I increase the weight so this was my heavy weight day. In the late afternoon I went to the pool for 3,100 yards of swimming with a hard set of 4x (75, 50, 25). I take 20 seconds rest after the 75, 10 after the 50, and 1 minute after the 25 before repeating the set. I've done this a number of times but this was by far the fastest I've done it. I hit my last 75 in 52 which is very good for me. My new swim technique has me excited about my potential in Chicago. I'm not going to be out of the water with the leaders but I plan on reducing the gap over Hy-Vee and Minneapolis. After swimming I did a running workout with a 2.5 mile warm up including my speed drills and strides. I then did 5x 600 meters on the track with 90 seconds rest between each. I hit them all in 1:59 (5:20 mile pace). I wanted to see how I would feel in a workout at the end of this tough block of training. I did a short cooldown and then got on the bike for a semi-hard 19 mile ride. It was getting really dark and I had to go quick. I averaged 240 watts on the ride. Following that I finished camp with lunges, core work and the claw drill.
1. 4 mile run
2. Weight Lifting- 2 sets of 10
3. 3,100 yards swimming
4. 4.5 miles of running with 5x 600 meters
5. 19 mile bike ride
6. Core, Lunges, Claw drill
Total training time for day 10 was 4 hours even.

For the 10 Days and 10 Nights I hit 520 miles on the bike, 106 miles running, and 26,000 yards swimming. In addition to those totals I lifted weights 5 times, did lunges, speed drills, and the claw drill all 5 times each, and core work 7 times. My total training time through the "10 Days and 10 Nights" was 51 hours and 25 minutes. It is now time for me to focus on some race specific workouts for Chicago the next 10 days and then get a really good taper so I can achieve a peak performance. My goals are to go under 2 hours for the first time in an Olympic Distance race and to place in the top 10. I began camp without any specific goals but after the first couple days I decided I wanted my volume to total 4 Full Ironman Races through the 10 days. I was able to achieve that as 4 Ironman events would total about 17,000 swim yards, 448 bike miles, and 105 running miles. I was able to surpass all of those totals. This camp leaves me with great confidence that I will be able to reach my goals in Chicago on August 30th. Thanks for following the camp. DREAM BIG!

Day 9 "10 Days and 10 Nights"

This brutal camp is finally coming to a close. Tomorrow will be the last day of this madness. This has been the toughest 10 days of training I have ever done. I began day 9 of camp by riding 100 miles. I was by myself for this one. It felt about as good as a 100 mile ride can. Following some ART from Dr. Kaminski I headed to the pool for 3,500 yards. I have made some changes with my swim stroke and I'm feeling really good. I'm mostly doing easy swims with lots of technique drills in an effort to make my changes permanent. After the swim I got a good dinner and then finished camp today by running 9.5 miles followed by 4x 200 meters in 37, 36, 34, 32.
1. 100 mile bike ride
2. 3,500 yards swimming
3. 10 miles running with 4x200's on the end
4. Core work
My total training time for today was 7 hours and 40 minutes

9 Day Camp Totals: Bike- 501 miles, Run- 97.5 miles, Swim- 22,900 yards
Tomorrow is my final day of camp...taking applications for camp next year...free entry to anyone who is interested. DREAM BIG!

Day 8 "10 Days and 10 Nights"

My 8th day of camp was a good one. I felt the best I have since day 1. I think taking yesterday was good for me both mentally and physically. I began camp with a 9 mile run followed by speed drills and strides. I then went to the pool for 4,000 yards of swimming with some hard intervals mixed in. At 5:00 I began the weekly group ride which takes place every Wednesday night in the QC. This is always a tough ride with lots of surging, breakaways, sprints, and high speeds. We went 50 miles and had some stretches of 10+ miles where we averaged over 26 mph. After the ride I went to our high school and lifted 2 sets of 12 on all my lifts. I finished camp this evening with a 3 mile run followed by lunges, core work, claw drill, and stretching.
1. 9 mile run
2. Speed Drills and Strides
3. 4,000 yards swimming
4. 50 mile bike ride
5. Weight Lifting- 2x 12
6. 3 mile run
7. Lunges, core, and claw drill
My total training time today was 6 hours and 5 minutes.

8 day camp totals: Run- 87.5 miles, Bike- 401 miles, Swim- 18,400 yards.
Only 2 days of camp left...DREAM BIG!

Day 7 "10 Days and 10 Nights"

Day 7 was a bit of a recovery day. Mentally, more than physically I was pretty fried today. I just could not get myself to train as much as I wanted. I ended up doing a 6 mile run in the morning and had a great 30 mile bike workout in the evening in which I pushed the 22 hills that I rode. My average watts up all the hills was between 400 and 500 depending on the grade of the hill and how long it was.

1. 6 mile run 2. 30 mile ride pushing hills Total training time was 2 hours and 10 minutes.

7 day camp totals: Run: 75.5 miles, Bike- 350 miles, Swim- 14,400 yards

Awesome video about the "underdog"...DREAM BIG!

Day 6 "10 Days and 10 Nights"

I'm getting used to waking up sore during this camp. I don't believe that will cease until the camp is over. After I got some breakfast in and walked around a bit I felt much better. I began camp by going for a 51 mile bike ride through the hills past McCausland to a small town of Low Moor where I refueled with a Gatorade. It was pretty windy today and I had 20 miles of the ride into the wind after turning around. Following the ride I took an hour and a half nap and then went to the pool for 4,000 yards of swimming with a main set of 8x 200's on the 3:00. I did the first 4 pull and the last 4 swim. I was hitting between 2:45 and 2:47 on all of them. Not too fast but I was alone and tired. Following a great dinner I finished camp with the night session of a 7.5 mile run in which I did hill intervals by running the 8 hills in the route really hard. I then did my speed drills and strides and went to the weight room to lift 2 sets of 15 on all my lifts at my lightest weight of the week. I then did 2 sets of 25 lunges and core work. I'll get a good stretch in before bed.
1. 51 mile bike ride
2. 4,000 yards swimming
3. 7.5 mile run
4. Speed drills and strides
5. Weight Lifting- 2x 15
6. Lunges
7. Core work
Total training time for day 6 was 5 hours and 40 minutes.

6 day camp totals: Run- 69.5 miles, Bike- 321 miles, Swim- 15,400 yards
I'm seeing a glimmer of light at the end of the "10 Days and 10 Nights" camp...DREAM BIG!

Crossroads Triathlon Race Report and Results

On Saturday I drove to DeWitt, IA for the Crossroads Sprint Triathlon. The race fell in the middle of a 10 day intensive training camp I set up for myself so I planned to use the race as my hard speed workout for the week. I won the race last year but wasn't sure how it would go due to the high volume the 3 days leading up to it. In the 3 days before the race I biked 183 miles, ran 32.5 miles, and swam 10,400 yards. The day before the race I woke up with extreme soreness and I put in another pretty good day of training. The night before I finished camp for the day with a 9 mile run including speed drills and strides. I thought the drills and strides loosened me up quite a bit. On race morning I drove to DeWitt and dropped off my running shoes and race number at the second transition. This race is point to point. I then drove to the lake for a warm up consisting of a couple miles and speed drills and strides before putting on the wetsuit for a short swim warm-up. I was feeling pretty decent considering all the work I had put in leading up to the race. I knew the race would be tough with the wind out of the southwest because we finish the bike course with a 4 mile stretch straight west due to the point to point. What it meant was that 10 of the 15 miles would be into the wind.

Swim: I began the swim in the 3rd wave. The women went off at 8:00 a.m. and the 30-39 year old males went at 8:03. My wave began 3 minutes later. On the start I began by swimming hard to get out of the mess of the chaotic wave start. By the time we hit the first bouey I was in 2nd or 3rd from my wave. I pushed hard since the swim was only 500 yards and soon was leading my wave and passing swimmers from the wave ahead of me. I felt great in the water and knew I was having a good swim. I exited the water with the 4th fastest swim time of the 214 racers. I believe it was my best swim of the year. My swim time was 7:13.

Bike: Out on the bike I began passing riders who started in the waves ahead of me. I enjoy having people out ahead of me from other waves to catch. It makes for a much more enjoyable ride when there are people out there and I don't have to set the pace. The wind was pretty rough...I'm guessing about 15 mph. I was so glad to not be riding my Zipp disc. With a disc on the rear wheel I would have been getting blown all over the road. Thanks to the sponsorship from Healthy Habits and Zipp I was able to ride a Zipp 808 front wheel and a Zipp 1080 rear and I felt in complete control of the bike. This wheelset is very light so they are super fast on hills as well as handling the crosswinds without any trouble. At the first turnaround 5.5 miles into the race I spotted the leader, Chris Scott about 2:20 ahead of me. Chris is a great local triathlete that finished 2nd in this race last year. There were still a few other guys from the 30-39 year old wave in front of me as well as a few of the women's leaders. At the turnaround we began the last 10.5 miles that would be into the wind. This is where I feel very strong riding. I have gained a lot of power on the bike from spending a great deal of time in the weight room and doing lots of hill intervals this year. By mile 14 I was able to pass Chris Scott to move into the lead ahead of all the guys who started in the wave ahead of me. For the ride I averaged 24.9 mph which was pretty solid considering most of the ride was into the wind. My bike split was the fastest of the race by 2 minutes and 13 seconds. It was my 3rd race this year posting the fastest bike split.

Run: Exiting the 2nd transition I put on the Garmin GPS watch. I used this in Racine and liked having it on because I could constantly monitor my pace. I was hoping to try to run 5:30 pace as long as I could hold it. In Chicago for my peak race later this month I'm hoping to average 5:35 for the 10k. I'll be much more rested for that race. I began the run very fast and at the mile mark I was at 5:29 pace. At the turnaround I was at 5:30 pace and I pushed hard on the way back. When I finished the Garmin had me at 5:28 pace but it is either a bit off or the course was a touch long as the official results had me at 5:34 pace with a run time of 17:15. My run split was the fastest of the race by 48 seconds. I finished the race in 1:02:07 which turned out to be the winning time by 4 minutes and 7 seconds. I was very satisfied to race that well on tired legs. It was the fastest time on the course in the last 4 years and considering the direction of the wind I was very happy with the race. I was 2 minutes faster than last year when the wind wasn't bad at all and I was much more rested for that race. Complete results from the race with splits can be found at http://www.theracershub.com/files/290-648.txt

It was great having so many members of my family at the race. I really appreciated their support especially considering it wasn't very nice out with some rain early on. It was also great to see a big group of Team Tri-Fit members doing well in the race. So many of them have made tremendous improvements over the past year and it inspires me. Congratulations to club member Jessica Imm on winning the women's title with a great race. I hope Team Tri-Fit will continue to grow over the next year. We are currently up to 50 members which far exceeds my expectations for the first year. We had a great club cook out on Friday night before the race and it was nice seeing everyone there. Thanks to Dr. Kaminski of Kaminski Pain and Peformance Care for having me ready on race day even with all the volume I had put in.

I had a great week of training...mostly from the 5 days of camp. I ended the week with 300 miles biking, my highest total ever not counting RAGBRAI many moons ago. I also ran 67.5 miles which was my most since competing at Augustana College nearly 8 years ago. I swam 13,700 yards and lifted weights twice. I did lunges twice and core work 4 times. I plan to continue my camp for 5 more days before taking a day off next Saturday...I'll need it. As I'm finishing camp these days my thoughts are on the approaching race in Chicago on August 30th. This is my big peak race for the year. I'll be tapered and rested up for this one hoping for my best race ever. My main goal is to break 2 hours for the Olympic Distance course. I know it can happen. I'll put in the work now so I can rest up later and reap the benefits of that work in Chicago. Thanks for reading...Congrats to all the Crossroads finishers. DREAM BIG!

Day 5 "10 Days and 10 Nights"

For day 5 of camp I was pretty sore in the morning due to the high camp volume and the intensity of a race yesterday. I began camp by running 5.5 miles easy in the morning with my wife and daughter. I pushed the stroller so that was fun. That loosened me up a bit and in the afternoon I rode my bike 45 miles out to my mom's for dinner. In the evening I did my weekly long run of 14.5 miles plus speed drills and strides. I finished camp by doing core work and the claw drill before calling it a day.
1. 5.5 mile run
2. 45 mile bike ride
3. 14.5 mile run
4. Speed drills and strides
5. Core work and claw drill
Total training time for day 5 was 4 hours and 55 minutes.

5 Day Camp Totals: Bike- 270 miles, Run- 62 miles, Swim- 11,400 yards

Day 4 "10 Days and 10 Nights"

Today's camp session started with a Sprint Triathlon in De Witt, IA. It was a good race for me. I'll post a full race report tomorrow. As for the triathlon I got 6 miles of running in including a warm-up and cool down. For swimming I warmed up 500 yards and then raced 500 yards. The bike leg was 15 miles. After the race I drove to our high school weight room and lifted weights and did lunges for 45 minutes. I was then able to get a 90 minute nap in before biking 23 miles. Tonight I finished camp by running 3.5 miles on the treadmill...yes it sucked very much. The treadmill was my only option with Payton sleeping and Jen gone scrapbooking with my sister-in-laws. I planned on 5 miles but felt really exhausted and a bit naucious so I stopped at 3.5.
1. 6 mile run including 5k in 17:15 at end of triathlon
2. 15 miles biking 36:06, cool down 4 miles
3. 1,000 yds. swimming with 500 in race
4. Weight Lifting- 2 sets of 10 and lunges
5. Bike- 23 miles
6. Run- 3.5 miles
Total Training Time- 4 hours, 5 minutes

4 Day Camp Totals : Bike- 225 miles, Run- 41.5 miles, Swim- 11,400 yds
Tomorrow is the only day I planned during camp when I won't do all 3 sports. Just a bike and run. Thanks for reading! DREAM BIG!