Saturday, Jennifer and I were up and at em early, to try to avoid any heat issues. We planned to head out to the American Tobacco Trail and meet Alan for a little run. Quite strangely, we arrived on time!

She was running a longer distance so took off while I waited for Alan to show so we could run our own 10 miles. At first I thought that he would stand me up, but I know Alan likes to be hardcore and he soon appeared in the parking lot and got situated.

I decided to rock the Fuelbelt and just carried 2 8oz bottles one with water and one with Accelerade. Also, I decided to trot in my Zensah calf sleeves to aid in some recovery.

The trees on the ATT create a nice canopy from the sun and the run is pretty much a straight shot with some longer slight inclines.

We kicked off with some good speed around 8:30-ish and I studied Alan as he ran and it never failed- every time some hottie runner would be coming the other way, he’d buck up and his pace would increase…lol! I totally called him out too…  We soon tapered the pace to a steady 9:30 avg and hit the 5 mile point. I popped a gel and swigged 4 oz of each drink and we began out return.

Alan began to dwindle, he was saying that was having leg/energy issues. So we began to walk 30s and run a mile. the last 3 miles i said we’d run 2 in recovery pace and race pace the last mile. I was actually feeling good…I kicked in something incredible and saw just give up and tried to walk. I stopped and made him run again. we finished strong in a 1hr 35min.

Enter Sunday- The Nuclear 1 Mile Swim at Harris Lake.

We all planned to do the swim (sans J) and were going to ride 60 after.  Well, the swim was as expected. I hadn’t swam in 2 weeks due to my leg injury and I knew I was in for a whooping. Plus this lake has some nasty ass seaweed issue- think kelp forest in the water. I cruised the 1st half in typical Scottie fashion, making my way from middle to back of the middle pack. Also sighting again was an issue and I was zig zagging all over. I rounded the 1st turnaround buoy and completely turned way too sharp and was headed back not knowing until last minute that I left one buoy- so I had to once again correct my angles and make up for it. I finished up with a 0:42 which is my fastest mile yet…woot!

We then hitched a ride with Carol to our cars and clown-cared ourselves into her TUV (triathlete utility vehicle).

We geared up and began our ride- we were 5 riders strong. Alan incorporated the Duke Half route into our ride. Too bad it all started in some ginormous hill climbs…not cool Alan .

After 1 bridge out detour debacle, we finally got our asses in gear and settled in for some nice riding. The course was rollers with some fast downs and a couple steep ups.

It began to flatten as we found our way to Jordan Lake…that’s when things turned sour. We were on Ferrington, a nice long flat stretch and I got a leg cramp which slowed me down…I shook it out and thought nothing of it. Soon enough, I saw the group pulling away- fast…I was peddling but it was as if I was in the mud. I had officially bonked on mile 47. I was dead…I popped my reserve GU and hoped for the best I went from a 21-23 mph pace to a 16mph pace. My friend Brian joined me in the bonk category. I shortly gained back my energy and began to take off again giving chase to the group. I looked back and Brian looked dead. I decided to hang back and coach him through to the end. (It was his longest bike distance to date). We finally rolled back into the park holding a solid14mph pace.  Game over.

Lesson learned: Actually practice your nutrition plan on long rides!!!!

Today was incredibly choppy! I was popping “swim wheelies” every now and then. One stroke would be super submerged and the next my whole torso would be cresting the water…

And to top the choppiness, the water felt like there were 2000 kids in it letting loose after gorging themselves with Caprisons! Sickly warm…

And now on to the data. No I wasn’t breaking any records..I was just doing one warm up lap just to record the distance, then I dropped off my Garmin on the beach to swim the rest.

*pic stolen from her site

However, one shake and I guessed it! To aid in my guessing, there had been numerous comments  and upturned nosing on my previous Adidas duffel which was ripped, dirty and years old…

Enter the Rocket Science Sports Elite Transition Bag.

This bag is truly AWESOME! It fits everything you can ever think of as well as do it in an organized manner. My Adidas bag was a duffel type bag that I always had to dig through to find things or I had to unload everything to make sure I had packed everything for race day. The Elite bag solves all this.

This bag boasts sectional zipped off compartments for running shoes, cycle shoes, sunglasses, meds, waterbottles and more as well as its own transition mat- and of course I had to test this!!! BEHOLD the contents of raceday and some, in one bag- minus the wet gear inner zip sack which is removable- for wetsuits, etc which is fine as the bag cinches down to accommodate light races:

(Contents in pic: Tri top, shorts, musette w/ gels and bars,helmet, hand towel, cycling socks, knee brace, goggles, sunglasses, Garmin 305, spare tubular tire, tubular adhesive tape, spare clincher tube, 2 water bottles, calf compression sleeves, Garmin heartrate strap, head lamp, race belt, cycling shoes and running shoes- with room for more!)

I also tested the fit with my aero helmet in place of my Pro Light helmet and all was successful! I’m pretty stoked that all my gear now is neatly “pocketed” in my T bag.

I tested out the bag in my most recent race and the hike from car to transition was very simple and comfy. No more juggling water bottles and loose stuff or rummaging through to find my Garmin. Some additional pluses are that the bag is waterproof  and ANT-PROOF! Yes, ants were all over transition, yet they failed to enter my durable fortress which contained gummy gels and sweet bars. And it being waterproof, I easily squirted the mud off the bottom with my spare bottle too!

I’m excited to actually travel with this bag to D.C. for the Nation’s Triathlon. As I’ll have to ride my bike from my hotel WITH gear to the race site blocks away to west Potomac park. I’ll travel well knowing that I have all my gear with me and will be very prepared- not worrying if I left all my nutrition on the counter or if I’m goggle-less.

So to rate this product I give it 5 out of 5 stars! As I’ve been researching and browsing so many bags at stores to replace my seasoned old bag. The raves on the Elite bag from Rocket Science Sports are correct. Now only if they could have fit extra speed in there somewhere! So thank you Rocket Science for making such a sweet bag and thank you Jennifer for an awesome bday gift!!!

Ate eggos and coffee. Got to T early so had plenty of time to talk to people and meet up with other BTers.

Event warmup:

Swim Comments:

T1 Comments:

Time: 01:13

What would you do differently?:

Bike Comments:

Run Comments:



Event warmup:

got in the lake and swam a good 100 or so to get a feel for the bathwater-like temperature!

Swim Comments: 00:17:36 | 820.21002 yards | 02m 09s / 100yards

Bike Comments: 00:51:52 | 17.5 miles | 20.24 mile/hr

What would you do differently?:

Go faster, drink more

Run Comments: 00:29:58 | 03.109 miles | 09m 38s  min/mile

What would you do differently?:

stop less and drench myself to keep cool

Although I did not get the items I really wanted to test out because they were out of stock- the ZV3 Recovery Power Sachets and the ZV7 Energy Gels. Oh well, Warren Bailey sent his regards and added 2 additional bars to my sampler. Woot!

The Sampler included:

(1) ZV1 Energy Drink Elite

(1)ZV10 Energy Chews

(3) ZV8 Energy Bars

(1) ZV9 Protein Bars

(1) Team RadioShack Water Bottle

(1) Team RadioShack Musette

Can’t wait to try these products out!!

Crash Recovery Update:

I’m still sore in the calf and the shoulder has a little AC Joint strain. I’m not able to swim

I started riding again…which meant I got my bike fixed, and the new Giro Prolight helmet came in the mail, woohoo! So I guess baby steps!

I’ll stage up the scene:

Jen and I had planned to do a 50 mile loop around the Bogue Inlet sound area down at the beach house in Emerald Isle. Having some nice flats to ride i decided to use the race wheels to cut the breeze. I had also planned to simulate my HIM nutrition plan with some changes, as i needed to correct that a lot from the WLHalf. (1 bottle of Perp, 1 bottle of GU Brew, aerobottle of h2o and some assorted solids- cliff bar’s bites and Rocks.)

We started late morning on the jaunt, the sun was out but was breezy and not hot. We pulled out of the drive and onto the secondary roads on our way to 58. bike felt good, the legs felt good, i had energy and was psyched to get out there and pedal. I let Jennifer take point, in case I pulled away from her in my excitement, I wanted to go a pace we both had to push but enjoy. Surprisingly, she set pace a 23-24mph! I was uber proud that shes comfy doing that now!

So we’re effortlessly just going at it and hitting pace fairly easy. Traffic was present but nothing too crazy. I was wheel sucking the life outta her  and just falling in pretty tight, keeping a good 4 inches between out (2) tires. We were overtaking other cyclists and looking damn good. That all changed real quick.

About 3miles out is when the incident occurred…I don’t really remember much on how it began, but know every minute during it (Which all lasted about a good 6 seconds). I heard Jennifer freak out with a scream. A car edging out of a gas station had come out of no where and blatantly sat about a half a car into the road to get into the oncoming lane. Well, this car would have been fine if they hadn’t just come out of no where and sit there when we were about 15 feet away with no room to react at 24mph!

So J’s on the the brakes immediately and swerving out to avoid the front quarterpanel. At the point she screamed and hit the brakes, I tried to focus around her and had no time to react. I was on the both brakes (rear locked up) and feathered the best I could with my front brake. I closed in quickly on Jen and actually hit her as my rear wheel began to lift…I outstreched my left arm to try and guide myself around her.I was done, I was lifting off the ground and about to smash her and myself against the car. So i just thought to myself what would immediately stop my bike and cut my front handlebars in a 90 degree manner.   instead of projecting into her i went straight to the ground i had my right arm initially outstretched to block the fall but thought immediately that I’d snap my arm, so i just tucked. My shoulder landed first followed the front of my head- i whacked the ground HARD. So hard that my interchangeable lens popped out of my sunglasses and I snapped my chain around my neck.

All i remember at that moment was the ground coming quick and i saw a flash of yellow as my bike followed me. Somehow i disengaged from the pedals. I musta done some tumbling, as Jennifer said she actually saw me in my graceful departure coming to a rest on my back- as the car drove off looking back at me. My bike ended up past me a good 10 feet. I kept my eyes closed and spit the remaining dirt out of my mouth. I heard Jennifer yelling at the driver and other voices all around. Traffic stopped and drivers hopped out, other cyclist came over stat…and luckily there was a emergency crew complete with firetruck about 6 cars back that came on the scene.

I took a deep breath and raised an arm to signal I was alive. I was a mess. My hands were grated from the road, my knees, shoulder and thigh had rash. I managed to my feet, had EIFD clean out my shoulder wound and they asked if I wanted to file a police report…I had no clue who or what that driver drove or looked like…so I said no. I picked up my water bottles that ejected in the flip. one had completely poppe dthe top and drained itself, the other was in some bush off the the side. I picked up my bike and looked at it. it didnt look that bad, amist the sand and dirt all over it. The derailleurs took a whack and the front was wrapped around my the tube. I hand straightened it to function…the rear derailleur was clogged with sand and some grass. The brake surface on my HED was cross ground from me instantly stopping the bike with my handlebar charade.

Some blood, bruises and scrapes later, the bike and I were OK. Jen, I think, was more a wreck than I was…emotionally. I dusted off as best I could..hobbled over to a picnic table and called in the SAG vehicle (sister-inlaw with bikeracks). I was kinda bummed the ride was over and knew I could continue, but didnt trust the bike, NOR my helmet- which had a nice compression in the forehead lobe area..(guess i’ll be buyin a new one now), and then there was Jen who was still trembling and not about to get on the bike any time soon. So we called it a day, went back home and drank the wounds away on the beach.

Yes.  I just finished my 1st HIM. It was barely completed due to injury,  but this was toughed out. This race was supposed to be my deciding factor if I wanted to plan for the full iron distance this November. Now since I had such a shotty run, I’m confused on how I should proceed.

I felt fine for the entire HIM race. I think I had a good gauge on my nutrition. Perhaps I needed a little more on the bike as I gassed a little bit near the end, but I was pretty much fine.

My race report.

Pre-race routine:
Woke up at 2:30AM and completed the car packing and was on the road a little after 3AM with coffee in hand. Made it to While Lake waaay too quick and the FFA center was still blocked my cops. Luckily they let me in.

Walked around a bit, visited the lake and hopped in for a feel. Felt good.

Swim Comments:

The swim started great. I was bi-lateral breathing and steadily would 3 stoke breathe. All was fine and dandy, I was MOP to BOP until about the 1st sight buoy when out of no where I caught an upkick out of no where in my face- I thought I split a lip but I was good. So I kept going and BAM! another kick to the goggles knocking one off and it filled with water..fun I emptied and was DFL. I began 2-stroke breathing to the left to try and make ground. no luck. I stayed DFL.

To add to the confusion, I dunno what it is about my stroke but I ALWAYS end up way left. I felt jipped too as the sighting buoys were curved and not a straight shot to the turn buoy. While I was busy heading to the buoys, the pack was heading to the turn buoy. I developed a cramp on the last turn buoy and just sucked it up. It really was a fun swim–I just suck that bad.

What would you do differently?:

Try to be aware of nearby AGers. Swim to the turn buoy directly and not depend on the sighting buoys.

T1 Comments:

I was winded from the swim, I could be faster in getting my gear on.

What would you do differently?:

be quicker
Bike Comments:

The wind sucked! I was extremely fast in the 1st half but lost energy in the last stretch. I went from a 21-23mph pace to a 17mph.

I forced myself to stay in aero. I did pop up occasionally and would immediately lose 2mph.

Nutrition on the bike was good- one perpetuem bottle, one gatoraid bottle and areo bottle w H2o. I had great energy until the end.

What would you do differently?:

plan solid consumables for energy replacement. I got sick of liquids real quick.

T2 Comments:

All went smoothly.

Run Comments:

The worst experience of my life. Honestly. I had some back pain on the bike near the end and thought nothing of it. I began running out of T2 and  about 10 steps into my run i had this deathening cramp flare up right at the point where my ribs split up front. I walked a bit an tried to stretch and loosen up a bit. I began running again and was fine until my heartrate got up and the cramp returned. At this point I was unable to take a full breath without that cramp making a sharp pain. So I began run-walking. This worked fine for about a mile then the pain went from my chest to my back muscles. This immediately gave pain with any torquing of the back. At this point I was about mile 3ish and I had had it. My knees felt fine…my heel felt fine, I was hot but not overly. I was so frustrated that I couldnt run bc I couldnt breathe!!! So I walked. Janelle soon caught up to me and passed. At about mile 4 I saw Jon…mile 5, I saw Doug, I gave a go get em. Jennifer caught up to me bout mile 5- yes I was still walking. I was fed up and couldn’t do anything about it. I took salt tabs, ate a banana, drank water and Heed. Nothing would fix this.
Just before the mile 6 turn around I told Jennifer that I had enough and was going to turn my chip in and call it quits. I hurt. She told me “No!”- and to finish…so I walked the rest of the course. Carol soon caught up to me  and we chatted a bit and I shouted some encouraging words (she looked a bit fatigued) and sent her on her way. I wanted to run so bad but it hurt so bad after 4 steps. My back was funked. I saw Alexandra cruise by, I gave smile. So I sped walk the whole way back. It SUCKED. I will never do that again. I used muscles in my leg I never felt before and I know I’ll be sore!

I basically pushed myself as fast as I could without creating a breathing technique that needed more than a half breath. Deep breaths = PAIN.

This must have been a pretty tough run race for all. At one point I strolled to the middle of the hwy and just looked down the length of it and saw MANY athletes walking the course- the sun had taken it’s toll on everyone.

I peaked the last uphill near the finish and told myself I will NOT walk the finish chute. I mustered up all I could and gave a marathon shuffle, trying to trot without tightening my back muscles. I make the turn in the chute and saw Jon and Janelle giving cheers. I trotted through the chip mats. Jennifer was at the finish waiting.

I think I was so frustrated that I couldnt run that it was that fact that had me more worked up than the 13.1 miles! I think that my back had tightened up so much from being in aero that when I began to run I must have strained it. But the best part of this run experience was that I got to see all my training buds out in the field and cheer them on even in my injury…

What would you do differently?:

Not get hurt

Post race

Warm down:

I wasnt really too bent out of shape at race finish. I sipped some water and walked around.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

injury and ability

Event comments:

I thought the run course sucked. The surface was a slanted road shoulder which eventually began to tweak my knee on the way back. No shade sucked too.At least there was an aid station every mile. The whole recycling used towels in the chill coolers is just gross. I recommend keep your 1st towel and use it the whole race. Food selection out on the course was great!

Overall this course was a tough one. Being my 1st Half I’m not surprised.

SPLITS

SWIM 00:47:29 | 2112 yards | 02m 15s / 100yards
T1 02:15
BIKE 02:55:19 | 56 miles | 19.17 mile/hr
T2 02:36
RUN 03:19:22 | 13.1 miles | 15m 13s  min/mile