Chris Tremonte

Olympic Watching Guide

2008-08-15T16:09:27Z

With the Olympic Triathlon days away, I figured now would be a good time to write up my thoughts on these two races and what to watch for. When 2004 rolled around I was in my second season of racing age-group triathlons and knew very little about the Olympic format or the athletes who raced there. I reckon most of you reading this blog are in the same boat. So here's a bit of an overview to help you enjoy this event a bit more.

And for those of you readers who race Continental Cups alongside me, feel free to correct me or to elaborate in the Comments.

Most of you know that the Olympic triathlon consists of a 1500m swim, a 40km bike and a 10km run and that you are allowed to draft on the bike leg. Some self-described "purists" say that the draft-legal rules make it less of a "real" triathlon, but I'd like to see those "purists" swim well enough to make that pack or run a sub-31 10k after that ride! From a spectator's standpoint, a non-drafting triathlon is a time trial while a draft-legal race is more like a road race. I guess it's that way from a competitor's standpoint, too -- in a non-drafting race you can "race your own race" for the most part whereas in a non-drafting race a lot of your pacing and tactics are dictated by what the other guys are doing.

The draft-legal format turns the swim into an all-or-nothing affair for most of the athletes. Unless you are a killer cyclist there isn't much motivation to break away in the swim but you *don't* want to fall off the back this early i the race. If you exit the water in the "B" or "C" pack (as I often do) you are often racing for tenth or twentieth place the rest of the way. Whether the groups come together on the bike is a function of the other racers' strengths & weaknesses:

Most of the bike tactics depend on the racers' perceptions of each others strength on the run.
If a trailing group contains strong runners then the leading group will work to prevent a catch.
If the trailing group is non-threatening then it actually has a better chance to catch...
A breakaway's chance of staying away increases as the other racers' perception of its members' run strength decreases
A weak runner has little incentive to pull in a break but very high incentive to bridge or to go on their own break
A strong runner wants the break to be caught, although he'd rather not be the one to do all the work on the bike.

For some examples, lets look at Pacific Grove 2007 and Mazatlan 2008. Victor Plata was very vocal at Pac Grove last year b/c he was very confident in his run and he didn't want a weak runner getting too big of a gap on the bike. Jarrod Shoemaker was in a similar position in Mazatlan -- he couldn't let Matt Chrabot and Ben Collins get too far up the road on the bike b/c he knew he wouldn't get back more than 60-90 seconds on Matt. At PG the gap stayed small (less than a minute) and Victor won the race. At Mazatlan the break got two minutes up the road and Matt Chrabot stayed away on the run. Looking more deeply, Victor was helped by the presence of other runners in the main bike group who wanted things to stay close. Jarrod was hurt by the fact that everyone in his bike group knew that he was likely to outrun them.

Enough on the racing format... let's take a look at some of the competitors. First the American men:

Jarrod Shoemaker was the first to qualify for the games by virtue of his Top American finish at last year's Beijing World Cup, which was contested on the Olympic course. He only placed 11th overall, though. Jarrod is a very strong runner, with a 5k PR near 14:00. If he can be in the front group starting the run then he has the best chance of any of the Americans. But he also has the lowest chance of being in that front group b/c his swim & run aren't as strong. (I should note that they're still quite strong by rank-and-file pro standards, just not as overpowering as his run.)
Speaking of overpowering, the next American to qualify was Matty Reed. Matt's brother Shane is racing for their native New Zealand but Matt got his American citizenship a few years ago after marrying an American. Matt is one of the strongest cyclists in the ITU circuit and one of the most likely guys to get into a break. This was partially b/c his run didn't inspire fear in the other racers until very recently. After a *lot* of off-season run focus and some work with Bobby McGee in Boulder Matt is running very well right now, as shown in his win at Olympic Trials and his outkicking of 2000 gold medalist Simon Whitfield for fifth at this year's World Championship. Matt also won the Escape from Alcatraz last year.
The third member of the American team is the one with the most success on the ITU circuit of any American male -- Hunter Kemper. Hunter has been on all three US Olympic teams and spent some time in the #1 spot on the World Cup points list before the emergence of Spain's Javier Gomez. Hunter is pretty strong all around with the run probably being his strongest discipline and the bike his weakest. But he's had some injuries in the last year and it's hard to say where his fitness is right now. He did outrun a much-improved Andy Potts at the Hy-Vee World Cup in order to snag the last US spot.
Andy Potts is the alternate. He's one of the strongest swimmers on the ITU circuit and usually leads out of the water. He'll sometimes start the bike in a break but has only stayed away when his group has been rather large. Like Reed, Andy has worked a lot on his run over the last two years and unlike Reed Andy pulled in a World Cup win last year. I think it was in New Plymouth. Andy won Alcatraz this year.

The big favorite in the men's race is Javier Gomez and he'll be hard to beat. Out of 11 World Cup starts he has 8 wins, 2 second place finishes and one third. He also won last year's Beijing World Cup. He is known for dropping a 4:50 mile around the 5k mark ... he may be vulnerable to a strong kick *if* anyone else can stay with him until the finish. Other names to know:

Bevan Docherty of New Zealand was the Olympic silver medalist in '04 and won the World Championships in Madeira, Portugal in 2004. The other Kiwis are also quite strong -- Shane Reed (Matt's brother) and Kris Gemmell. Retired 2004 gold medalist Hamish Carter is also a Kiwi.
Simon Whitfield of Canada won the gold medal in 2000 and has been on form this year.
Rasmus Henning of Denmark won the highest prize-money race on the World Cup calendar in 2007 and 2008 -- the Hy-Vee World Cup in Des Moines, Iowa. That race was in June so he's had enough time to build to a second peak.
Aussies Brad Kahlefeldt and Courtney Atkinson are both quite strong. Greg Bennett would have been their third team member but the IOC said that only eight countries could have three athletes and Australia was ranked ninth at the critical moment. Kahlefeldt went back and forth with the American Hunter Kemper as World Cup points leader in the year before Gomez's arrival.
Daniel Unger of Germany won this year's world championship.
Ivan Rana of Spain and Dmitry Gaag of Kazakhstan have also had strong performances at World Cups and World Championships.
The World Cup points list on the ITU site can also give you an idea of who's been racing well this year

I don't know the women's field as well since I haven't raced any of them. But the women's race will take place at 10am on Monday the 18th (Beijing Time) or 7pm on Sunday the 17th Seattle Time. There is supposed to be a live video feed without commentary on www.nbcolympics.com (powered by Microsoft Silverlight) and a one-hour highlight reel on the midnight broadcast.

The men's race is 24 hours later -- 7pm Pacific on Monday for the video feed.

Training Camp Summary

2008-08-14T21:07:32Z

Now that I am on my way back to Seattle, let's do a quick roll-up of what I did in Boulder. The last three days were a bit light as I had to head out of town on business, so focusing on the first 3 weeks of the trip:

18 swim sessions; 68k yards; much of this was long-course
16 bike rides; 704 miles; two rides of 100+ miles and two more of 70+; Flagstaff repeats, a hard ride up Rist Canyon w/ Dave Messenheimer, "easy" rides up Left Hand, S St Vrain and N St Vrain Canyons, a day of T1 + first four minutes simulations, a few chill rides...
16 runs; 150 miles; 5 Long Runs of 14.5-17 miles, including 2x2 or 3x2 tempo miles at progressively faster paces

I learned that this mix of heavier training and working a little less didn't give me any additional free time! But I found that I was able to be productive working remotely so I expect to take similar trips in the future -- maybe winter in Kona or early Spring in Arizona...

Next up: this Sunday's Kelowna Continental Cup and then a few weeks of intensity and sharpening work leading up to Pacific Grove and Portland.

The High Country in Pictures

2008-08-07T15:36:33Z

I went on a fun 100-mile ride three days ago -- Boulder to Lyons to Estes Park, past Raymond and Ward to Nederland and then back down to Boulder. The 20 miles from Lyons to Estes Park included a 15-mile climb and a 4-mile descent, then it was another 30 mostly-uphill miles to Ward. I started at 5430 feet of elevation but spent more than half the ride about 7500 feet. I wasn't always putting out a lot of power but the effort level was there, and I felt surprisingly zippy when I swam "down" at 5430 feet that night.

I found that somebody else uploaded this route to Bikely but they went counterclockwise while I went clockwise. I also found it on Map My Ride but that rider started in Nederland. Here is the elevation profile from that starting point. I like to think of miles 30 to 80 on their map as a fifty-mile climb.

Now on to the photos...

Here is the only flat section between Lyons & Estes Park. You can see the peaks of Rocky Mountain National Park in the distance.

About to start the descent to Estes Park... Unfortunately I was going to fast to get a picture of the lake as I entered town. You'll have to check it out yourself some day. I had stayed dry so far but the sky looks ominous, eh?

The lonely road to Ward... I've been sprinkled on a few times by now...

Finally, the summit! Why is it that the highest town I passed doesn't have an elevation on the welcome sign? Estes is at 7500 and Ned is at 8200 -- both are in valleys -- while Ward is at like 9200 feet.

Finally, here is a shot from just past Ward that captures the "edge of the world" feeling that you get up there. Someday I'll have to ride with a real camera instead of snapping pictures with my cell phone.

The sky opened up between Ward and Nederland, so I didn't take any more pictures. I took shelter in a convenience store in Ned and tried to warm up a bit before the final descent down Boulder Canyon to my Home Sweet Home Away from Home.

Thirty-Three Hours

2008-07-29T21:11:53Z

Ever wonder how much you'd be able to train if you didn't have to go to work every day? I now know my own answer to that question. (Well, sort of ... I worked remotely from Boulder for about 25 hours last week -- so more flexibility than usual but I'm still not a "full-time athlete.")

When I planned out this three week "work part-time while training a lot" trip I envisioned tons of free time -- afternoon naps, social events with the big-name pro triathletes in town, exploring the local restaurants, driving up to the mountains, visiting friends in Fort Collins and Colorado Springs ... but it turns out that training full-time eats up a lot of time! (Especially with the half-time work thrown in.) I've been just as busy as when I'm at home working full-time, perhaps busier... and more tired thanks to the altitude and the heavy training volume.

My first week in Boulder included:

26500 yards of swimming, mostly in a Long-Course Meters pool (so yes, I converted that workout volume to yards for my log b/c I am that obsessive)
300 miles of biking, including a 103-mile Long Ride on Sunday and a 16-mile climb to Ward on Friday
55 miles of running, including a 15-mile long run... 90% on trails or the track

I don't think that the next two weeks will include quite as many miles as I ramp up the intensity a bit more... but it was a fun experiment to see if I could Cram all that Graham.

I'll close with a gratuitous photo of the Flatirons:

Sunset on the way home from East Boulder Rec Center.

Boulder Rocks!

2008-07-26T01:23:07Z

I've been living the high life for three days now and I have to say that it's gorgeous out here. Lots of mountain views, bike lanes and sunshine. They do seem to get a few more afternoon T-storms than I'm accustomed to but you can plan around 'em.

So far I've done a few runs on the South Boulder Creek trail -- dirt surface, not too many rocks, gentle grade... I've been swimming at Mark's favorite spot, Scott Carpenter Pool. It's a 50m outdoor pool, which is a nice change of pace for me.

I've biked to the Northeast (Longmont), the Southeast (portions of the Coors Classic course) and today the Northwest -- I hit up the steady 16-mile climb through Left Hand Canyon. The first 15 miles are a steady 4-6% grade and then the last mile kicks up. You're at 9000 feet of elevation by then and you've been climbing for over an hour, but at least you have delicious cookies to look forward to at the General Store in Ward.

I took a few pictures during yesterday's ride, so here are a few beerless pictures to feast your eyes upon:

The Flatirons, looking west from from Clovervale Rd. These mountains are very close to downtown Boulder -- it is hard to see how close from this picture -- and are often used as a symbol of the town.

The Flatirons again, this time from the corner of routes 128 & 93.

You shouldn't try to take pictures of yourself while riding... it really isn't safe...

Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

2008-07-22T01:18:08Z

Yesterday I finally won the BRI Triathlon at Seafair after five years of trying. 4th in 2004, 3rd in 2005, 2nd in 2006 and 2007... like I said in my Lake Stevens write-up, racing locally is lots of fun b/c you see a lot more friends and family out there. Plus since this race was part of Seafair there was a good deal of press coverage. There are some photos on the Seattle Post-Intelligencer website, an article in today's digital and paper Seattle Times, and a short bit on yesterday's KIRO-7 newscast (I'll post a link once I can get one).

My swim felt a bit sluggish yesterday, partially due to the presence of the very fast Wolfe brothers. I don't know them well enough to know which one was in my start wave, but he sat behind or next to me for about half the swim and then ate my lunch in the second half as he put about 20 seconds into me. Luckily I still have those really fast ITU-inspired transitions and I started the bike in the lead.

There was a bit of a headwind on the way out so I was straining against the gear just a bit. But this meant that the way back was really fast. I had fun in the I-90 tunnel, greeting the oncoming cyclists with a collection of whoops and whistles... the echo was quite entertaining.

My legs felt great on the run but my stomach was a bit disgruntled. I think that my bike beverage was a bit too concentrated... and perhaps my HR just never got low enough for any digestion to occur! Such is the nature of a one-hour race... But I kept the pedal to the floor as much as I could and finished with a respectable run split that was a touch slower than last year.

The post-race was lots of fun. The top three guys got to do a little promo spot about Seafair for KIRO-7, and I also got interviewed for the Seattle Times article. I felt like a real big shot!

After the adult race was over we all got treated to the PCC Kids Triathlon. If you have never seen a kids triathlon, I highly recommend that you check one out. Fun stuff! It's great to see the diverse collection of bikes in the transition area. Replace carbon wheels and aero tubing with a beach cruiser and a handlebar basket and you start to get the idea. Some 24-inch wheels, some 20-inch wheels, some the next size down. We counted at least ten kids keeping their bike helmets on for the run ... and a few still had their swim caps!

Finally at the awards ceremony, we gave two of the Seattle Seahawk "Seagals" the honor of standing with me on stage for a photo op. Lucky gals, eh?

US Pro Tri

2008-07-19T00:14:23Z

I am proud to announce that I have joined the new US Pro Tri team. Our roster for 2008 includes team director Ryan Bates, Daniel Bretscher, John Kenny, Dave Kuendig, Kevin Lisska and me. So far this year we have three top-tens in 70.3 races, three top-tens in ITU Continental Cups and Daniel's win over a solid field at the Spirit of Morgantown. You can keep up with everybody's results at www.usprotri.com.

A Day of Firsts

2008-07-07T20:06:00Z

Yesterday I raced in the Lake Stevens 70.3 Triathlon and while it wasn't the first sprint finish in the short history of half-Ironman I had a lot of my own "firsts:"

Deciding to do a pro race the day before -- I'd been hurt a bit and wanted to see my legs hold up for a relatively painless training run ... which took until Saturday.
Turning a home race into an away race -- I slept on somebody's floor in Eugene on Friday night, drove to Everett on Saturday for the race meeting then stayed at my parents' house on Saturday night. Sure my house is only 45 minutes from the start but theirs is right on the course.
Getting penalized -- I forgot to put my running bib number on before the bike and Jurgen caught me about 8 miles in. Luckily it was a short stand-down penalty and didn't cost me much time.
Finishing in the top half of a pro field -- 6th out of 15.
Finishing in the money at a pro race. Woohoo!! (I had done so at smaller races and in the Tri-California Series points before, but not an individual pro race... splitting hairs, perhaps?)

For those who like details, here is the long version:

Although I'd been nursing a series of leg injuries over the last 6-8 weeks, I was eager to race at Lake Stevens because it is the only "pro" race that we have in the greater Seattle area and I really wanted to race in front of friends and family. I ran about nine miles on Saturday morning in Eugene with the Brooks crew and my IT band, knee, ankle and achilles all felt fine, so I went ahead and signed up.

I was a little surprised to have a non-wetsuit swim given the cold Spring that we've had in Seattle, and I had to drive back to Redmond on Saturday night to pick up my ITU fastskin suit. During the swim I tried to mark Tim Marr but Joe Gambles had the same idea and we had to share. Eventually I got between Tim and Joe but Luke Bell started surging and swerving in the front of the group and I lost contact. Bryan Rhodes, Bell, Marr and Boyd Conrick exited the water just over two minutes up on me. I swam alone almost the entire time and exiting a few seconds ahead of Christopher Legh and Joe. Lots of Aussies -- Tim and I were the only two Americans in the first seven.

I had an ITU-inspired quick T1 (fastest of the day) and got to work on the bike. Maybe some of my speed came from leaving my bib number behind in T1. D'oh!

Legh and Gambles caught me about a mile into the bike. I tried to stay with them for awhile but lost them on the first hill of the new piece of the course. Then Lars Finager and Ben Hoffman caught me and I tried to stay with them. Lars pulled up with a mechanical around mile 6 but I kept my sights on Ben until the penalty tent. Bryan Rhodes was standing there with a stopwatch, serving out a drafting penalty. Rhodesy is always an upbeat, entertaining guy at the races -- even when dealing with a piece of bad luck. But I didn't stick around to chat since my bib number penalty was a yellow card which only required me to sign the log book.

I lost sight of Joe except for on the long uphill and was basically alone until the water stop at mile 28, when Rhodesy came around. I was able to stay with him for the next ten miles, swapping the lead back and forth and staying out of each others' draft zone as we passed bunches of age-groupers. I lost "contact" with him near Lake Roesiger although I kept him within sight until about mile 50. He caught up to Boyd Conrick near Roesiger and I wanted to join their little posse but could never quite catch on.

Near mile 50 I started getting passed by another wave of pros -- first Trevor Wurtele got me on Machias Rd, then John Shelp got me just before OK Mill. Ben Greenfield (first AG-er at that time) passed me just before we hit Machias again and then Dan Cohen got me on Machias. Not a happy time. But as I saw the line of cyclists up ahead of me I thought, "If I can run like I did last year then they are in a heap of trouble. If I run like I've been hurt since May, then I am in a heap of trouble!"

I hit T2 just behind Cohen, to the cheers of a crowd that knew me personally. Lots of "way to go, Chris!" and "Go get 'em." Fantastic! I put on socks b/c of last year's blistering problems and set to work. I was 11th Pro at that point and if I could hold 6:00 pace then I should be able to work my way into the money.

I passed Cohen & Shelp about a half mile in. They're both from Minnesota (eh?) and they ran the whole run together. I passed Ben Greenfield when he ducked into the woods for a nature break near mile one. I could see Trevor and Bryan up the road on the longer straightaways and started measuring time gaps. 70 seconds to Trevor at mile 1.5. Maybe 65 at mile two -- not gaining fast enough. But I clocked 6:00, 6:12 and 5:55 for the first three miles and just told myself to do more 6:00 and less 6:15s and I should catch them.

Going through town after mile 3 I got a huge lift from the crowd. When I race in California its "Go Number 38!" but here in Washington it's "Go Chris!" "You've Got 'Em, Chris!" "He's Right There, Chris!" "You're looking strong, Chris!" and I recognize many of the voices! Big trouble for the out-of-towners!

I saw Bell, Legh and Gambles ending their first out-and-back and the three were joined at the hip. Quite a race at the top.

Trevor passed Bryan around mile three and I reeled Rhodesy in between miles 4 and 5. I was now running 8th on the road if I could hang on. But 7th and 6th were in sight on the longer straights -- Boyd Conrick was just ahead of Trevor. I was within 45 seconds of Trevor at the turnaround (4.8 miles) and the gap kept shrinking.

Going through town at the halfway I got another huge lift from the crowd. I pumped my first in the air and screamed and got an even bigger reaction.

I finally caught Trevor around mile 8.5 on a short uphill after the mile-2 aid station. I caught Boyd on the gentle downhill of Grade Rd and had to work very hard to keep him from latching on to me. I could hear his footsteps getting ever so slightly quieter and I told myself that if I could drop him right there then I wouldn't have to sprint at the finish!

I saw the gaps at the turnaround -- about mile 11 -- and saw that I'd put some time on Trevor & Boyd and would likely hold on to 6th. I also saw that Ben Hoffman was about 1:45 ahead and so I focused on "try to catch Ben" rather than "don't get caught by those guys behind you." The mental trick carried me to the finish line and it was done. 1:18:34 for a 5:59.84/mile pace.

I just have to say one more time how great it was to have so much support out there. Not just on the sidelines but the other racers. I saw at least a dozen familiar faces out on the run and nearly everyone had an encouraging word to say. I hope that I was able to return the favor most of the time, although I was on the Edge for most of that run.

Splits:

Swim: 28:41. Fifth Pro. 31st overall, although the AG-ers had wetsuits
T1: 0:51. First overall.
Bike: 2:29:59. 11th Pro. 15th overall. Not too shabby.
T2: 1:05. 20th overall. But socks are worth it over 13.1 miles!
Run: 1:18:34. 4th overall. Only Bell, Gambles and Legh outsplit me.

Doubling Up

2008-06-12T03:56:00Z

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.

Tips from the Pros: How top athletes stay in shape

2008-05-29T06:03:35Z

I just found a link to the article that Jennifer Donohue recently wrote for Outdoors NW magazine. She interviewed a mix of elite endurance athletes in the Pacific Northwest (including yours truly) and got their ideas on how to mix training with their day jobs and/or other commitments. There are a bunch of good tips in there. Check it out!

The Soul of Asia

2008-05-28T04:40:08Z

Now that I've filed my Race Report like a good boy, on to the fun stuff. There were four Americans on the start list in Seoul and as luck would have it they're all guys I'm pretty friendly with -- Ben Collins, Dave Messenheimer and Steve Sexton. Ben and I were on the same flight out of Seattle and we ran into Steve at the airport -- he was connecting through to our flight. Ben and I both identified him in the S terminal public restroom, much to his delight. "Oh wow, it's STEVE SEXTON!! Here! I the flesh!"

Ben already gave a pretty thorough account of our flight over there. The only clue that I'll give you is the "Crazy People" tag on this post.

Most of the international athletes were staying at the Hotel Lexington, a New York themed "Deluxe Business" hotel in Seoul's business district of Yeouido. The buffet restaurant where we at most of our meals was called "Broadway" and sported West Side Story posters all over one wall. There was a sports bar on the second floor called "Yanks and Mettz."

The Korean folks were very kind and helpful to us throughout the weekend, despite the only Korean that we collectively knew being four phrases that Ben learned on the plane -- one of which he taught me: "Kum Sa Hahm Ni Da" means "Thank You." I used that a lot, even when it wasn't necessarily grammatically correct.

The day after the race we went looking for a pool and after getting directions from a few people on the street we ended up at a gym with no pool. But one of the gym guests offered to drive the four of us over to Yeouido Pool! He even bought us each an aloe juice at the supermarket once we got there. We exchanged email addresses and will probably be in touch -- he's studying English and was eager to get more practice.

Our culinary adventure of the weekend took place after the race when Dave, Ben and I went out to find some local Korean food. We eventually found ourselves in an alley where about eight people gathered around an outdoor table enjoying some food out of three woks and a few beers. It looked good from where we stood so made eye contact with the owner and he motioned us to an outdoor table. As we sat there on plastic stools anticipating our meal the air was dripping with anticipation. The cook finished up the entree and his wife set up a hot plate on our table to keep it warm. It wasn't clear what the meat was so we each took a tentative sample... rather chewy... very chewy, in fact. It could only be intestine!! We tried to work our way through enough of the plate to be respectable, eating the vegetables and moving the tripe around ... I even suggested we hide a few pieces in our napkins... the wife kept coming over and stirring up the contents of our wok to get us going but we couldn't turn the corner. Eventually we had to throw in the proverbial towel.

Steve, on the other hand, had refused to even sit down at the restaurant as he instead scouted the neighborhood for a "MacDeux" or other American offerings.

Our final batch of shenanigans came together at the Seoul airport when I noticed three couples wearing matching shirts in a span of about ninety seconds. The first time I just chuckled to myself... the second time I didn't want to interrupt whoever was talking... but the *third* time I had to say something. So Ben, Steve and I spent the rest of our hour at the airport seeking out matched couples. it was like shooting fish in a barrel -- I think we saw like 25 of them! Some were completely matched from head to toe. Some just had matching shirts. Some had shirts that had the same patterns but inverted colors. It was fantastic. The excitement may have been enhanced by the free drinks that they were giving away in the Duty Free store...

That about does it, wraps 'er all up... see you later on down the trail.

Seoul Survivor

2008-05-27T00:14:19Z

I just got back from a memorable trip to Seoul for yesterday's ITU Asian Cup race. At least I *think* it was yesterday -- we flew over the International Date Line about 16 hours ago so I'm not really sure what day of the week it is anymore.

Let's get the race details out of the way first: I put a lot of effort into it but the body just wasn't there. I was fighting allergies and a bit of knee pain before I left Seattle and I developed a sinus infection once in Korea. The swim went out really fast but I managed to hang with the lead group through most of the first lap. Things started getting strung out towards the end of the lap and I was riding caboose on the Pain Train that tailed off of the main group. As the guy ahead of me lost contact, I fell back with him -- I just didn't have anything more to give. I hope it was at least partially due to the illness, although the fast start could have also played a role. Dave Messenheimer came past me on the back stretch of the second lap. I sat on his feet for a few hundred then slowly fell back.

I exited the water a few seconds behind Dave and my other draftee, had an unspectacular T2 and set off to bridge up on the bike. Two guys caught me from behind and I hoped we'd make a useful group... but I let a small gap open as I put my shoe on and then never caught back on. That must sound pretty crazy from afar, huh? In hindsight it sounds pretty crazy to me, too. I stayed pretty close to them for the entire first lap, sometimes gaining a bit and sometimes losing a bit... but I think they used the downhill U-turn to pick up a bit more ground on me and then I lost the carrot, so to speak. The lesson for next time is to really bury yourself to get on that wheel. Urgh. I pushed it alone for another lap (although not quite as hard as before, I reckon) before seeing another group maybe 30 seconds behind me and realizing that they'd likely catch me regardless of what I did. So I backed off a bit and settled in with them for the final three laps.

As I started the run, the top 8 or 9 guys had already finished their first 2.5-km lap. Ouch! I hoped to at least outrun my bikemates but my body gave me some rather clear signs that this outcome would be unlikely. So I plugged away at a somewhat-respectable pace and gutted it out... Ben Collins and Steve Sexton lapped me while in their final lap. Yay, again! At least it was a good result for Ben - his first ITU points. Luckily my ornery leg/knee didn't yap too much, thanks to a sports massage that I got right before the race. It was quite sore in the evening, though...

Well, that was a touch longer than I was hoping for. I'm going to break out the travel report into another post. Stay tuned.

sweet Mazatlan video

2008-05-21T04:39:00Z

Here is a topic that is much more upbeat than injuries, at least depending on your perspective. My friend Kim took this fun video of the swim start at Mazatlan. I like that you can hear a bunch of spectators laughing in the background each time a wave hits us.

http://picasaweb.google.com/whitekg/Mazatlan/photo#5201204037400001714

life on the edge

2008-05-21T04:28:00Z

Endurance athletes often talk about riding that edge between the most high-quality training that you can handle and getting hurt. I may have pushed it a touch too far last week -- something in the neighborhood of my left knee has been hurting intermittently since last Tuesday. My first thought is IT band but we'll see what my physical therapist says tomorrow.

It felt a bit sore during an easy treadmill run on Tuesday, then it felt fine during a very tough track workout on Wednesday -- but part of that could have been that the intense pain I felt throughout my body from the difficulty of the workout masked any other pain until I cooled down, when my knee/ITB felt funky again. I stayed of of it until Saturday -- one swim Thursday, an easy ride Friday -- before attempting the Saturday morning track workout. It felt so-so during warm-up and I made it through the first mile of a 2x2mile before finally deciding that this was a bad idea.

I've been using the foam roller and the tiger tail a few times each day and I'm hoping that this bit of rest will let me run pain-free, or at least tolerably, in Seoul on Sunday. My fitness in all three disciplines is on the up-and-up, so I hope that I don't have to settle for a swim-bike-shuffle.

Sorry for the downer of a post. Hopefully I'll have something more upbeat to say tomorrow! Some more positive nuggets from recent training:

I did a lap of the Lake Stevens 70.3 bike course this past Sunday -- that was pretty cool. My parents just bought a house that is like 2 miles off the course, so I hope to know that bike route like the back of my hand by the time that race rolls around.
I saw some very encouraging wattage numbers in my VO2 workout today. Fun stuff.
The aforementioned "really hard" track workout involved three intervals on/near the Lower Woodland oval. The first involved 3 laps around the track targeting 76, then running off the track to a nearby paved hill and pushing it up over the top... about 5:30 of very hard running. The second interval was just a mile on the track in about 5:00. The third interval again started with 3/4 mile on the track but then we went up a much longer hill and tacked on this loop at the top for a total of nine minutes of suffering. Well, the three laps on the track weren't too bad but once we started climbing it was a purely mental exercise -- the body was just gone.

Training update: running is hard

2008-05-11T00:13:00Z

I've been shying away from listing my training details on this blog after reading Greg's comments about how boring these posts tend to be. But I *am* one of those people who is "obsessed with how other triathletes are training" and I know that I'm not alone in that obsession, so here is a little guilty pleasure for both of us.

Today I was unsure whether I had an evening 5000M running race on the track or a morning 10-mile tempo run but I knew that either would be hard. I went to running group in the morning for either a shakeout or a workout. I'd pestered Mike, Lance and Carl throughout warmup about our 10-mile tempo run and they figured I was joking. They were right, sort of -- Tom only gave us a 9-mile tempo run -- the first 6 at 5:40-5:45, the next 2 at 5:24-5:26 and the final mile sub-5:20. I expected those last three miles to be challenging and they didn't let me down, but I'm happy to say that I hit all the target times with a difficult 5:18 to close it out.

Most of the rest of this week was recovery from Wildflower -- ez spin Monday, masters swim Tue night, ez treadmill run on Wed.... then the Thursday Night World Championships w/ a brick run on Thursday night, an ez swim Friday and today's run followed by a swim. Tomorrow I plan to do some long intervals on the bike.