Starbucks......taking over the free world one cup at a time
Here is the other Hotel I stayed at.. 
Monday, July 30, 2007
Sunday, July 29, 2007
on a roll!
First off, I love Singapore. It is such an incredible city. In addition to the cleanliness and the safeness of the city, it really is beautiful as well. I just finished the third stop of my 5 week around the world (almost) trip. The 2007 Singapore ITU race went quite well. I had my best ever ITU result with a 5th place finish, right behind Mr. Nischuishi, 2004 Olympian from Japan. It was my second solid result in two weeks. Last week there was the 11th ranked person in the world in the race, and 3 Olympians (New Zealand, Kazakhstan, and Hong Kong), and this week there was top 10 athlete in the world and three Olympians (Hong Kong, New Zealand, and Japan). These races have been quite competitive.
Heading into the race I was quite nervous as Courtney Atkinson from Australia was toeing the start line. Courtney is one of the best triathletes on the world (top 10 and over 5 World Cup victories), but he is also an incredible swimmer. I was concerned that the swim would be crazy fast and that several athletes would ride away. Not so. I had a solid swim to come out in the middle of the first pack. It was a tight, fast, and technical bike course. I rode well, and hopped off the bike feeling good, but not great. Last week it took me 5-6k to find my legs. This week was similar in that when I hopped of the bike I felt quite flat, but instead of pushing it I settled into a solid pace and accelerated throughout the run. I began to pick off people off one at a time, and moved up. With about 3k to go I passed Nischuishi and moved into 4th place, but he fought back and re-passed me with 1k to go. I was incredibly humid, and I was suffering. It felt like their was a hot blanket around your body, and it really zapped your energy.
Overall I am happy with the result, but I know my run is much better. I think with all the traveling, jet-lag, and my unfortunate week before New York, I a not quite as sharp as I was 3 weeks ago. That means it is back to the grindstone for the next 10 days will I prepare in Thailand for the last race of my Asian trip. For this next race my goal is to get my first podium finish in an ITU/Professional race. We shall see. For now it is au revoir!.
Cheers,
B
Heading into the race I was quite nervous as Courtney Atkinson from Australia was toeing the start line. Courtney is one of the best triathletes on the world (top 10 and over 5 World Cup victories), but he is also an incredible swimmer. I was concerned that the swim would be crazy fast and that several athletes would ride away. Not so. I had a solid swim to come out in the middle of the first pack. It was a tight, fast, and technical bike course. I rode well, and hopped off the bike feeling good, but not great. Last week it took me 5-6k to find my legs. This week was similar in that when I hopped of the bike I felt quite flat, but instead of pushing it I settled into a solid pace and accelerated throughout the run. I began to pick off people off one at a time, and moved up. With about 3k to go I passed Nischuishi and moved into 4th place, but he fought back and re-passed me with 1k to go. I was incredibly humid, and I was suffering. It felt like their was a hot blanket around your body, and it really zapped your energy.
Overall I am happy with the result, but I know my run is much better. I think with all the traveling, jet-lag, and my unfortunate week before New York, I a not quite as sharp as I was 3 weeks ago. That means it is back to the grindstone for the next 10 days will I prepare in Thailand for the last race of my Asian trip. For this next race my goal is to get my first podium finish in an ITU/Professional race. We shall see. For now it is au revoir!.
Cheers,
B
Thursday, July 26, 2007
chillin in asia
Asia has been quite an experience. Every time I come here I learn more and am exposed to many new things. SIngapore, apart form my hotel, has been great. It is a beautiful city, clean, easy to get around in, and to top it off everyone speaks English. For the travelling impaired, Singapore is definitely a nice "starter" country in south asia.
I have decided to stay two weeks longer to do another race in China. I will fly up to Chiang Mai, Thailand for a week and a half to visit with the sis, and then up to Northern China (near Mongolia). I am really ready to come home, but I need to do this next race to improove my world ranking. I decided that I need to make sacrifices if I want to do this as a profession. While some of you might not call flying to Thaialnd and China a sacrifice, it has been really hard travelling by myself away form Family and friends. On top of that, I packed incredibly light for a two week trip, and now it has turned into a month excursion. Oh well, I think things will improve when I get to Thailand. The accom (with the sis) is tops, and a very familiar and warm setting.
Well i am sitting in McDonalds typing away on the net. I have the race briefing today and then it will be time to focus on Sunday's race, which I have almost not even thought about yet becuase of finding out the logistics of the China trip.
Here are some pic's for those who dont like to read:
This is apparently the world's largest fountain (this is only the top story)
The dont grow them like this in the McD's in the states
Those are actually steps, and they repaint them for different shows
It has rained every day since we have been here--everything is so green
Cheers,
B
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
updates...
Hello all,
Well China was an experience, full of highs, lows, and everything in between. Travel to the race took over 72 hours, and was by far the most strenuous of my life. Because of rerouting issues, I missed my flight out of Beijing into Shenyang. This was the lasy flight out of the day, and forced me to spend the night in Beijing. I got swindled by a bunch of gypsies, but they did not steal my stuff. The story is way too long and complicated for me to write in the blog, so if you want a funny story call me when I am back in the states. I'll summarize by saying I thought these girls were form the race organization, took their help (which they did help me), but then paid handsomely for it. They were unofficial taxi drivers, and let me tell you, even in Beijing a 5 hour Taxi service was not cheap. I did see Tienanmen (SP?) square though, but my camara died right before I arrived, so I had to pay for pictures od me there. Oh yeah, Beijing is perhaps the worst city in the world. I hate it. It is so polluted, crowded, it smells, and people are quite rude. It is about ten times worse than Bangkok.
Onto the race.... The organizers put on s stellar race. We were shuttled from the airport to the race-site (nearly 5 hours) and well looked after. After being alone for nearly 3 days, it was nice to see some of my friends again. I met some awesome Kiwi's and Aussies as well. Race day came fast. It actually turned out to be quite a stellar field. There were 3 current Olympians and many other fast athletes. I had a solid swim, right in the main bunch. I exited in great position and hopped on my bike. Onto the bike was the race went really wrong. I immediately got dropped by the front group. I ended up in a chase pack with 4 other Asians. Not a good place to be in with the front pack 30 sec up the road and no one willing to do the work. Fortunately for me (not for others) there was a crash in the first pack. One rider, Nathan Richmond, an Olympian from New Zealand, fell but was not hurt. He got back up and joined us, and it was just the firepower we needed to catch the front group. We rode very hard to catch the front bunch by the half-way point. My legs were fried from the chase, but I tried to make the best of the situation. My seat had also slipped down again, and my quads started to cramp. Not too bueno for the run. Onto the run, I went out hard and felt suprisingly ok....for about 1k. I was in 4th at the 1k, then I absolutely blew to pieces. I dropped to 12th place by the 5k, nearly 30 seconds down on those ahead of me. Somehow I found my legs again, and started to run faster, I was in 10th by the 8k mark with two other athletes right ahead of me. I made a hard move with 1k to go and turned on the gas. The two others responded to my surge, and matched it. Running down the finishing chute, I could see either athlete on each side, and also could feel my quadriceps cramping like crazy. I gave it all I had, and ended up winning the sprint for 8th. I picked up some solid points and a little coin. I was a little disappointed with my run, but with the travel, jet-lag, seat-post malfunction, and knee injuries I think it was a good starting point.
I am currently in Singapore and I love it. It is a great city, and super clean. I found the world's best pastry shop, and will eat there every morning. The next race is here in Singapore this Sunday the 29th. Once again the field will be strong. After this I have decided to stay an extra two weeks in Asia and do another race in China. I will visit my sis up in Thailand for a few days and then head to China, and then back to America around the 14th of August.
Here are some of the pic's from my travel and the race:
Well China was an experience, full of highs, lows, and everything in between. Travel to the race took over 72 hours, and was by far the most strenuous of my life. Because of rerouting issues, I missed my flight out of Beijing into Shenyang. This was the lasy flight out of the day, and forced me to spend the night in Beijing. I got swindled by a bunch of gypsies, but they did not steal my stuff. The story is way too long and complicated for me to write in the blog, so if you want a funny story call me when I am back in the states. I'll summarize by saying I thought these girls were form the race organization, took their help (which they did help me), but then paid handsomely for it. They were unofficial taxi drivers, and let me tell you, even in Beijing a 5 hour Taxi service was not cheap. I did see Tienanmen (SP?) square though, but my camara died right before I arrived, so I had to pay for pictures od me there. Oh yeah, Beijing is perhaps the worst city in the world. I hate it. It is so polluted, crowded, it smells, and people are quite rude. It is about ten times worse than Bangkok.
Onto the race.... The organizers put on s stellar race. We were shuttled from the airport to the race-site (nearly 5 hours) and well looked after. After being alone for nearly 3 days, it was nice to see some of my friends again. I met some awesome Kiwi's and Aussies as well. Race day came fast. It actually turned out to be quite a stellar field. There were 3 current Olympians and many other fast athletes. I had a solid swim, right in the main bunch. I exited in great position and hopped on my bike. Onto the bike was the race went really wrong. I immediately got dropped by the front group. I ended up in a chase pack with 4 other Asians. Not a good place to be in with the front pack 30 sec up the road and no one willing to do the work. Fortunately for me (not for others) there was a crash in the first pack. One rider, Nathan Richmond, an Olympian from New Zealand, fell but was not hurt. He got back up and joined us, and it was just the firepower we needed to catch the front group. We rode very hard to catch the front bunch by the half-way point. My legs were fried from the chase, but I tried to make the best of the situation. My seat had also slipped down again, and my quads started to cramp. Not too bueno for the run. Onto the run, I went out hard and felt suprisingly ok....for about 1k. I was in 4th at the 1k, then I absolutely blew to pieces. I dropped to 12th place by the 5k, nearly 30 seconds down on those ahead of me. Somehow I found my legs again, and started to run faster, I was in 10th by the 8k mark with two other athletes right ahead of me. I made a hard move with 1k to go and turned on the gas. The two others responded to my surge, and matched it. Running down the finishing chute, I could see either athlete on each side, and also could feel my quadriceps cramping like crazy. I gave it all I had, and ended up winning the sprint for 8th. I picked up some solid points and a little coin. I was a little disappointed with my run, but with the travel, jet-lag, seat-post malfunction, and knee injuries I think it was a good starting point.
I am currently in Singapore and I love it. It is a great city, and super clean. I found the world's best pastry shop, and will eat there every morning. The next race is here in Singapore this Sunday the 29th. Once again the field will be strong. After this I have decided to stay an extra two weeks in Asia and do another race in China. I will visit my sis up in Thailand for a few days and then head to China, and then back to America around the 14th of August.
Here are some of the pic's from my travel and the race:
This is Omar Tayara, my bro and the guy who I sprinted for 8th with (he was 9th)
What's up finish?
Cheers,
B
Sunday, July 22, 2007
numero dos
Well race number 2 went considerably better than number 1. I finished up in 8th, so it was a solid result. I was pretty jet-lagged as it took nearly 72 hours of crazy travel to get to whereever I am in China (I have absolutely no clue). Anyways I will post more pics and a full race report and details of China and travel soon. I cant figure how to turn off the chinese characters on my blog so it is quite difficult to publish.
More soon.....
Cheers,
B
More soon.....
Cheers,
B
Monday, July 16, 2007
reporto numero uno---dnf
Well , it definitely was not the way I wanted to start my three week racing tour, but I DNF'd (did not finish) the ITU Geneva race in upstate New York. This last week has been quite frustrating for me. I fell and messed up my knee, got zero sleep studying and writing my finals in accounting, got stuck sleeping on the floor in the Chicago airport, and also got sick before the race (head cold/ allergies / congestion) and after the race (g.i. / immodium is my best friend =) ). I wasnt feeling right the day of the race, had a bad swim, rode really hard to bridge the gap, didnt bridge the gap, and then pulled the pin on the run. We were too far back for any result to be salvaged, and I know I have some really tough traveling and racing in the next few weeks, so I played it conservatively. Hopefully I have used up all my bad luck/kharma/whatever in the small town of Geneva.
As for now it is 800mg of ibuprofen, water, immodium, ice-baths, self-massages, sleep, and compression socks as much as possible try to fix the bruised and battered bod.
Cheers,
B
As for now it is 800mg of ibuprofen, water, immodium, ice-baths, self-massages, sleep, and compression socks as much as possible try to fix the bruised and battered bod.
Cheers,
B
Sunday, July 01, 2007
the big w!
Well, I can finally chaulk up the first win of 2007 season. Granted it was a local race in Lincoln, NE, but it was also a duathlon. After my last duathlon, I swore I would never do another one, but somehow I found myself on the starting line. There was one other really fast duathlete, so I knew I would have to really lay it on the line for the win. I also put in 5:45 hours worth of excercise (a very solid triple workout) on Sat, so I knew I was going in with tired legs. Needless to say, I was a little nervous.....
The format was a 2 mile run, 12 mile bike, and 2 mile run. Each run had one really steep hill in it, and the bike was quite hilly, with a few steep hills. Onto the first run, I smashed it! I ran 10:28 completely controlled and it felt great. It was the best I have ever felt or looked (according to a passerby). I started the bike w/ a 20 sec lead, but ended getting caught after 2 of the 3 laps. I hung on and we entered T2 together. I averaged just over 24mph, so I was quite happy. I was confindent in my 2nd run, and started the run strong. I got quite an inital gap, and was able to just finish solidly, clocking around 11:00 for the final 2 miles.
I have really been having good workouts the last 4 weeks or so. I have been killing my track workouts and kept the volume quite high. I am finally sorting out my injuries, and getting solid training in. I have two more weeks before the real racing starts. So I will kill myself this week, take it a little easy the next week, and then get ready to race. Next up on the calendar are the Geneva ITU Continental Cup in New York on Jul 14, then the Jinzhou ITU Continental Cup in Lioning, China on Jul 22, and then the OSIM Singapore ITU Continental Cup on July 29th. That is three races in three weeks, and they are all over the world. Hopefully this race is a sign of good things to come........
Cheers,
B
The format was a 2 mile run, 12 mile bike, and 2 mile run. Each run had one really steep hill in it, and the bike was quite hilly, with a few steep hills. Onto the first run, I smashed it! I ran 10:28 completely controlled and it felt great. It was the best I have ever felt or looked (according to a passerby). I started the bike w/ a 20 sec lead, but ended getting caught after 2 of the 3 laps. I hung on and we entered T2 together. I averaged just over 24mph, so I was quite happy. I was confindent in my 2nd run, and started the run strong. I got quite an inital gap, and was able to just finish solidly, clocking around 11:00 for the final 2 miles.
I have really been having good workouts the last 4 weeks or so. I have been killing my track workouts and kept the volume quite high. I am finally sorting out my injuries, and getting solid training in. I have two more weeks before the real racing starts. So I will kill myself this week, take it a little easy the next week, and then get ready to race. Next up on the calendar are the Geneva ITU Continental Cup in New York on Jul 14, then the Jinzhou ITU Continental Cup in Lioning, China on Jul 22, and then the OSIM Singapore ITU Continental Cup on July 29th. That is three races in three weeks, and they are all over the world. Hopefully this race is a sign of good things to come........
Cheers,
B
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