Doubling Up
I apologize for the gap between posts -- I've been unusually busy lately as we went through our final preparations for the HealthVault Solutions Conference. Oh yeah, I also had the Escape from Alcatraz the day before the conference. Needless to say, I spent lots of time on the phone, writing email and participating in LiveMeetings while the other triathletes were doing silly things like resting and previewing the course. I suppose that is the difference between being a "Professional Athlete" and a "Professional/Athlete." That said, the race went reasonably well given my recent health issues and the conference was fantastic.
The race. I had a pretty solid swim. I got on Matt Chrabot's feet early on (at las tI *think* they were his) and he dragged me into a very good position. The chop made it hard to stay right on one guy's feet, though, so I moved into the pack next to us instead. I managed to keep my stroke pretty long and "relaxed." I bridged up when I needed to then sat on two guys feet for the final 1000m. Towards the finish I was surprised to see the swimmers behind me trying to surge forward but I didn't fight them and just settled for outrunning them in T1.
T1 at Alcatraz is somewhat unique. You exit the water about 1km from the transition area and have the choice of leaving your wetsuit and/or picking up shoes there before hoofing it over to your bike. This year I left my wetsuit but didn't put on shoes. Most of the guys in my swim pack were running w/ their wetsuits half-on but in bare feet. I think my way was better, but that's just me.
I exited T1 just ahead of John Dahlz. John is usually a very solid swimmer so I felt pretty good about this. But I had a hard time getting into a rhtyhm on the bike. The legs felt a bit heavy, the gear felt a bit big... and neither senstation really went away. I gave 'er what I had and tended to stay with the guys (and soon, gals!) around me on the uphills, but I gave up some ground on the descents -- especially to a speeding Brad Zoller on the final descent of the course. He must have been going 10-15mph faster than me! Something to work on.
I wasn't sure how my legs would feel on the run as I'd only run 3 times since mid-May -- the Seoul race and two ez training runs. But the ITB had been feeling better and better each day so I hoped to pull Brad back and pick up a few slots. Alas, it was not meant to be. My ITB was sore from the get-go and the mediocre pace I was holding just felt tougher than it should have. I still managed a respectable time up the sand stairs but while I'm accustomed to passing a few guys on the run, this time I just got passed by 3 or 4.
Anyways, it was nice to be racing with less pain and phlegm than at Seoul and I think that the end of this injury is in sight. I snuck over to the track tonight and joined the Eastside Runners for some 400m repeats. I cruised the first few and then picked it up a bit and my ITB felt surprisingly good. It started yapping a bit during my cool down but the intervals themselves were almost pain-free.
It was also great to catch up with some of the other triathletes. We have these unusual friendships where you've been to Mexico and Asia and the Caribbean together but have never been to the other guy's house.
The conference. We had nearly 600 attendees from 285 companies, eager to learn more about HealthVault and to see what kind of projects other companies are doing. There would have been even more attendees if we had any more room in the venue. Our ambitious 14-company demo went flawlessly and the partner booths were excellent. 36 applications and 50 devices are now live on HealthVault. The technical talks were standing-room-only. I learned about many cool projects that people are working on. I got to put a lot of faces to the names I've been seeing on emails.