trizou video

check it out, Ultramax Nation (the company that puts on a lot of the high class races in the Iissouri/Kansas area) made a video of my old pal the TriZou. The best part...my mom and I made it in briefly at the 0:19 second mark. We're the ones standing on the track looking at something.

Show Me State Game triathlon update

The Show Me State Games triathlon was this morning and it went pretty well. There was only a few hundred people if that and it was super low key. I don't think it's technically a "USA triathlon" sanctioned event, but nonetheless it's still a triathlon.

I really thought the heat would be a bigger factor considering the high today is over 100 degrees. But I guess that since it's been over 100 for the past month everybody is pretty much use to it by now. I don't have an official time yet, but I finished in about 1:48 which isn't a spectacular time, but it's not horrible either. I was able to get a pretty decent bike time with riding 15 miles in about 55 minutes.

My first open water/mass start went fairly well also. Nobody was too happy with the mass start, but what can you do. I was lucky to be in a fairly non cluttered area between the fast people and the slow people. There were maybe only a dozen of us in my general area with minimal bumping. The pond we swam in was filled with alge/seaweed (whatever you wanna call it) and you absolutely couldn't see a thing, but again what can you do. It could be worse.

The swim was a clockwise loop around the big orange buoys 

There was nothing too eventful about the bike, it was mostly uphill the first half and then we did a 180 degree turn and went right back. I've gotta say that I'm glad it was that way instead of being downhill the first half and then uphill on the second half.

The run was two laps around the lake that we swam in for a 3 mile run. Well, technically it was a run around the lake and then, like the bike, spin 180 degrees and go back.

It all went well with minimal complaints. But I have to say that my only complaint was that at the run around the .75 mile mark/ 2.25 mark (for the way back) there was a water station which is always appreciated. My only complaint was that on my way back there was nobody there and no cups left. A guy in front of me had to tip the bucket a fair amount to get the water out. I can deal with getting our own water especially at such a low key event, but the fact that there weren't any cups left was kinda bothersome. But it's not the end of the world.

Here's what you've probably been waiting for: pictures and videos (disclaimer: I know that my transitions aren't very good)

My helmet set up, it worked pretty well

My ground set up minus my shoes. Normally I wouldn't have energy chews but it was really hot and I figured anything could help. I also chose to have water and Gatorade to keep my electrolytes in check

The swim start video is easily the coolest one of the bunch

I don't know if I'm gritting my teeth or smiling. Going from the swim to bike

Going off to the bike course

This one is pretty bad quality, but it's the bike to run transition

The finish-and yes it was gravel 95% of the way which probably added an extra level of difficulty 

Show me state games triathlon

I signed up for another sprint triathlon today. This one is a part of the "Show Me State Games" which take place in Columbia, Missouri. I just found out about it and the entry was only $25; who can beat that (here's the link if you feel like joining). Given my performance in the last sprint tri, I know how much is too hard when it comes to pushing myself on the bike. But this time around I have a distinct advantage because I'm back in St. Louis for the summer and the neighborhood I live in is all hills. It makes a 16 mile ride if you go on all the streets there and back. Unlike when I train in Columbia where it's hard to find good biking that's not on a scarily major road.

This one is slightly longer than my old pal the TriZou which is 400 meter swim-14 mile bike-3 mile run. This sprint is a 1/2 mile swim-15 mile bike-3 mile run. So not a significant difference but enough of one where I'm really exited about it. I'm actually most looking forward to the traditionally most uneventful part of the race; the swim. Because the TriZou takes place in a pool and everybody starts a few seconds apart. This one is a mass start in a lake which is more traditional of a triathlon. I'm really excited about that since it'll be my first mass start and there's something really fun about swimming in open water as opposed to the pool. (Watch me end up hating it). The only part of the swim I'm not looking forward to is people bumping and getting in the way of each other. Well, that's about it in terms of current racing, nothing too exciting. I'll remember to take pictures and maybe a video or two.

In other tri related news, I've decided to become slightly more serious about the sport. My first step is getting tri-specific gear. One of which is getting a tri jersey/shirt because although my "wicking fabric" shirts are great, I need a tri shirt. And I'm planning on getting aero bars and pulling my road bike seat forward to make it a tri-road bike hybrid. As great as a tri bike would be I don't have $2000 to drop on a new bike. I've decided that next year is really gonna be the year that I pick up triathlon training. I hope to do a few 1/4 distance tri's. And it's my goal to do the 1/2 ironman in Branson two years from now. And from there maybe another year and off to the Louisville full Ironman. So that's my "5 year plan" as they call it...slightly different from other people my age, but hey might as well do it while you can.

TriZou weekend

So the TriZou's this Sunday and I'm pretty excited. The only problems are that it's going to be close to 90 degrees, and if you're familiar with midwest weather the temperature isn't the bad part, it's the intense humidity. But, it's been humid this whole week so hopefully everybody will be at least a little bit use to it by the time race day comes. It also looks like it's going to rain, so cross your fingers that the rain won't start until after the race.

My training went fairly well this year. My only complaint is that I spent too much time on the indoor bike trainer as opposed to getting out there and biking on the roads. So I took some advice from people who are very knowledgeable in this field and did a bit more interval training. For instance if I was going on a 3 mile run, I would purposefully run faster than my normal pace for a bit about every 1/2 mile or so. It's one of the only ways to make you faster and hopefully it worked.

Tomorrow's packet pick up day and I think I'll swing by the track (aka Stankowski field) where all the transitions are/where the bikes are kept tomorrow afternoon and see if they've set up everything. If stuff is up, I'll take a few pictures for you guys.

If you're participating in the TriZou tomorrow, than good luck.

Trizou coming up!

My favorite race, the TriZou is coming up here in the next 12 days, it's definitely that time where you start getting really excited because it's coming up so quickly. I say favorite because it's the only not-purely-running race I've ever done. I really encourage you to sign up even if you live in a 2 hour radius of Columbia, Missouri. Here's the website if you're interested. And if I remember, I'm going to bring a camera (or at least take pictures and video with my cell phone) because I know how much I personally like it when people post pictures and videos.

Now that I know in general how to pace myself I'm gonna push myself a bit this year. Last year was a kind of trial run to figure out how I would do with going from biking 4 gigantic hills to running 3 miles. The only two foreseeable problems will be 1. the weather has been super unreliable (raining for a few days, than really cold, then 85 degrees) 2. there's construction where the running course use to go through, so they've had to change it slightly and it now incorporates a hill. Even more unfortunate is the fact that the hill is in the last mile-ish of the race so everybody's gonna be tired. But, aside from that I'm really excited.

My time last year was 1:42 so I'm aiming for anything lower than that, even if it's only a minute or two. I realize that's not a significant goal, but considering that I only do this stuff for the fun of it and the experience I don't have the time to train non-stop and improve time significantly.

So probably for narcissistic reasons I added the video my dad took on his phone of me finishing last year. I'm the one in the dark blue shirt.  A little background behind the video is that the lady next to me passed me a little while before and me being unhealthily competitive really wanted to catch up to her.