the last push

It is DEFINITELY that time of the season again. Every morning my body hurts a little more, and it is harder to get up. The weather is changing and my daily motivation seems to be hanging in the balance. It is the end of the season. I still love triathlon, it just seems that the actual act of training is getting tougher. Today was the last day of my three week block of training. Suprisingly, I was very consistent throughout in terms of volume and intensity. But now, I am completely wiped. The thing is I only have maitenance workouts for the next two weeks! Almost there.....

The main problem for me is that I get excited for my upcoming break and next season, and often lose concentration about the last few races I have to do. This year seems to be similar. When I first decided to race in Seoul on Nov. 2nd, I was hesitant about adding this race due to the travel and losing a week of training for San Francisco. Now, however, I am super excited to leave and cant wait! The reason? My "training" ends 7 days earlier than before. After my long run today (which went well) I dont think I can put in much more hard work. The end is in sight. If I was racing only San Francisco, then it would be another 1.5 weeks of hard training until I left for the race. I dont know if I could of held the intensity high for that long. I have included some pics of my last trip to Korea for your perusal. This trip was back in April of this year to the Tongyeong, World Cup. Next time I post it should be from the Orient. Shweet.

random rocks

a vista
testing local cuisine with 2x Hawaii Champ Chrissy Wellington (giving her a shout out for her performance)

until next time,

B

chez moi

I am finally back in Texas! (Fort Worth to be specific). I arrived about a week ago and have been settling into things. My parents moved to Austin while I was in France, so I have come home to a large empty (at least empty of people) house. My parents moved to a much smaller place in Austin, so I am tasked with getting this puppy ready to rent out. If you have ever been the the Brandon's you know this is no small task. Which is why I have a timeline of around 3 months to do it.

On the training and racing front, I am getting ready for my last two races of the season. I know I said I only had one left, but somehow I managed to add another race to my schedule. This race just happens to be in Seoul, South Korea. Well, nothing like keeping to the theme of "insane travel" for this year. It is Nov. 2, so it is the week before Treasure Island in San Fran. I view it as a hit ou" for T.I.--this hit-out just seems to be a little out of the way. Until then I am training hard. With this alteration in the race schedule, there are 4 weeks between my last race (Scott Tinley's) and the Seoul race. That is the longest break from racing I have had all season (since last year to be exact). Well, we will give it a go!!

Cheers,
B

ST

Scott Tinley's is one of the cooler races that I do each year (this year both literally and figuratively). Is it such a relaxed and low-key race with a great vibe. It really feels like a grss-roots old-school triathlon. After my month globe-trotting I was looking forward to this kind of race....

Not to say that the race was going to be easy or the competition lacking, but this was certainly a no pressure race for me. Since I was racing in France, Portland, China, and then Scott Tinley's (California) on consecutive weekends, I didnt bring my TT bike (straight-up ITU old school road bike). I think this hurt me a bit on the bike, but probably not as much as the like of bike hours due to travel in the last month......and my inability to time-trial!

My body has taken a beating with my schedule this year, and wasnt sure how race #24 would go. It went ok. I had an easy-breezy swim where I came out 4th right in the bunch (Flash was off the front). I had a good first 20k of the 40k bike, and then EXPLODED! The last half was not so much fun. Onto the run, I recovered a bit and ran strong. not fast, but at least it felt considerably better than the chinese 10k running debacle a week earlier. I finished 12th, right behind K-fed who was also having a less then stellar race.

The good news is that my feet and body are starting to feel better and I am ready to put in a huge push towards Treasure Island in 5 weeks. This is my last and only race left this season and I want to finish the season on a high note! I head back to Fort Worth tomorrow to put in a 5-week training block. It is time for hermit mode: sleeping and training with the occasional meal. In the words of Tim Don, "train hard, win easy"

cheers,
B

Asia, revisited

China, like Portland did not quite go according to plan. I was really hoping for a top finish. I have had a good track record in Asia and was looking to keep the streak alive with this race--it just didnt happen. I think it was about one race too many this trip. Whereas Portland was just a case of being tired and missing 6 days of swimming beofrehand, China was probably too much travel with a combo of no run training.

When I booked this 4 week round the world tour, I wasnt injured and it still seemed like a tough schedule. Through a little heel issue into the mix and it was going to be not so much fun. I swam as much as possible between Portland and China (as much as you can in 7 days with 2 days travel across the Pacific), but it didnt seem to help much. I had a good swim, but not like the rest this year. I exited the water in 3rd place right behind the two leaders, but it was probably the hardest I have ever swum in a triathlon and the pace was not that fast. I dont know if it was residual fatigue form travel or just themeager swim training of the past several weeks (or both).

Into transition I was fine, but mucked up putting my feet in my cycling shoes and promptly had a 10m gap to the four leaders up the road. I road as hard as possible, but I couldnt bring them back. I finally had to sit up and wait for the next group. The group ended up being about 1:15 back out of the water so we had some work to do. Me and another Ukranian (we call him Nintendo) dragged the pack of Chinese around, but we eventually caught the front group. At this point my calves were cramping and I was seeing stars I was so tired, but thought after a few k's of recovery on the bike I would be ok. Not so much. I hopped of the bike and just couldnt go. From the first step of the run, I struggled. I was not going to pull the plug and slugged out it for a dismal 18th place. I think I scored about 3 ITU points and got a smack-kick in the pants from the Chinese.

As Manny, put it, "I saw your run split, bro. What did you do, stop for chinese food on the run?" Well, Manny I didnt, but it was slow. Race reports of bad races are always hard to write. They always take longer to put up than the good ones. Right now, I am back in the USA in California getting ready for my next race. In this case, "getting ready" means sleeping, eating, and not much training. I am racing a low-key race in San Luis Obispo this Saturday then heading back to Fort Worth. I have about 5 weeks between then and my next race which also happens to be my last race. Plenty of time to recover from this round of trips and smash myself into some good form for the last race.

forget Geb.....how about Irina?

In other news, I watched Haille G run an amazing sub 2:03:59 in the marathon this weekend, but it was Irina Mikitenko who caught my eye. She is a German marathoner who just became the 4th fastest woman ever in 2:19:19 (this time would qualify her for US men's Olympic trials). More importantly to me, she has a very short shuffly-type stride--very similar to mine! I have always tried to lenghten and change my lengthen my super-short stride, but people like her make me think it might be possible to run fast with my natural stride. And to boot, before she was a marathoner, she was world-class in the 1500, so she can run fast with her short stride. She is my new Hero!!

disaster

Pro nat's was a disaster. I had three straight 12 hour days of travel from France to DFW to Portland combined with 2 days on either end of no pool time. To sum it up, I have been swimming the best I have since college, but with the preceeding 6 out of 7 days before the race with ZERO swimming, I was in for a shocker.

I was a little jet-lagged and fatigued from the travel, but nothing that I couldnt handle (I thought). I felt reasonable leading up to the race and had felt great last week in France at my last race. Well, like the stock market, a lot can happen in 7 days...

I dove into the water and was struggling like I never have from the get-go. My stroke felt aweful, and the body was tired. I never recovered and things actually got worse throughout the swim. I was swimming so hard I was loosing my lunch and was quite cold and dizzy, but going nowhere. I came out WELL behind the leaders in the second pack. It took me about 3 of the 8 laps to feel a little better on the bike, but this was more like going from being on death's doorstep to aweful. Onto the run our group was well back of the leaders, my heel hurt, my motivation hurt, and I didnt feel like killing myself just to slug through to the finish. I stepped off the course. I am still debating whether it was the right decision up to now. Looking back, a 12-15th place (my estimation on my place if I would have finished) would have garnered me nothing but a few measely ITU points which I dont really need right now, and would have required me to limp for at least 3-4 days. I thinking packing it in was the smarter choice, although I have to deal with the emotional ramifications of that choice now.

What really frustrates me is that I havent had a solid ITU race on American soil. Every single ITU race I have done in the last 3-4 years in the USA has gone terrible. There are myriad different reasons for each of the races. I just want to have 1 good race in the US! Is that too much to ask? Oh well. It is time to focus on the next one. This time the next one happens to be in China again. This week (as in 5 days from now). So as I sit and type this blog, I am in Vancouver on the way back to the Orient. Hopefully the body can hold together and I can put together a solid race. We shall see.

Cheers,
B

c’est enorme!

Well I finally cracked one! It wasn't the perfect race, and I think I can still race better, but it was a breakthrough for me. During the race in Scotland last week I did something to my heel (as if I haven't had enough problems with my feet). It has been so sore I couldn't run on it all week. Heading into the race this weekend I was pretty nervous. As someone who prefers to run a lot of miles, this "no running" strategy wasn't exactly good for my confidence.

And on top of the heel, this was a huge race for our team. In the French Grand Prix Series (much like European football….or soccer to uneducated people), the bottom 2 teams from D1 go to D2 and the top 2 teams form D2 go to D1. Our team signed me and some other foreigners for the sole purpose of helping the club go to D1 next year. Going into the last race, we were in second place, but only by a hair.

For the last month, (and especially since Scotland) I have really been focusing on swimming and riding since my body has not cooperated on the run. After the most recent heel issue, it was decided by me that I would no longer "sit in" on the bike and wait but to attack the swim and the bike to get in a breakaway. All the US guys that race with me would be shocked. This race was one of a few that went exactly according to plan.

I had an awful start to the swim (sometimes it is expected when you have 105 guys and 150meters to the first turn buoy), but my fitness came through and I clawed my way into 4th out of the water. Along with another teammate behind me, we had a break out of the water. I hopped on the bike and took off. It ended up being 9 guys in the break. I pushed really hard and felt solid on the bike. We were pretty disorganized, but managed to hold off the second pack. The gap grew to 35 seconds to the chase pack (which consisted of about 60-70 guys), but the last lap of the bike we lost quite a bit of time and ended up only having 15 seconds or so. Not too much time for all our hard work, but better than nothing. Next I went onto the 5k, 3 lap run, in 3rd position and ran well for the first lap. The 2nd lap I got passed by two guys to put me into 5th going into the last lap. I was feeling ok, but the quads were cramping pretty badly. About 800m from the finish I got caught by 2 more guys and we ran together all the way to the finish chute. I didn't have the finishing speed and ended up getting out sprinted by both (one was my teammate) for 7th place.

I still think I can race better, but all things considered I am happy. This was by far my best place in the FGP this season and things look good for racing in France again next season. In the end, our team finished 2nd on the day which catapulted us to 1st in D2. Champions of France D2!!!!! So not only do we go to D1, we are the champs of the 2nd division. As you can see from the above pic our manager, Eric, was ecstatic about our victory. He didn't sleep the week before the race he was so nervous, and was crying afterwards. What a perfect way to end the season of racing in France!

I am now in Denver airport en route to Portland for the USA National Championships. While the French season is over for me, I still have a few more races and heaps of travelling! Fun, fun. After Portland I have 1 day in San Fran and then off to China for another race. I will post some musings on a summer racing abroad shortly. What a crazy, but wonderful experience. I think words hardly will do justice to the memories. Cheers, and thanks for reading.

Les Etrangers aprѐs race [l to r: Moi, Nico(francais), Adam, Jason, and Kris (Aussie, Aussie, Aussie)].

and the l'equipe on top of the podium

aye, scotland

What the heck do I have to do to have a good race and make a little money? I went across the pond to Scotland for the last round of the British Triathlon Corus series in lovely (read:cold) Strathclyde Park, just outside of Glasgow. I am now back in St Jean with no money in my pocket, but a nice big shiner on my right eye. As my camera is broken at the moment I have no pic's of the black eye, alas...

Before I digress....to the race. It was an exciting, but unusual format of 300m swim/10k bike/2k run with prelims and finals. First 10 in each heat automatically go through to the finals and then the next 5 fastest times. Super-fast racing. I was looking forward to a good workout and sharperner for our next French Grand Prix Race this coming weekend.

The first heat went great. I sat on Ali Brownlee's (British Olympian) feet for the entire swim to exit the water 2nd. Got onto the bike and felt great. Ali attacked up the hill, and no one followed, so I chased, and chased, and chased. No one would work with me and I had to pull the group around for most of the 10k bike. I had a good next transition and started the run off fast. I was running comfortably in 3rd, so I backed off to conserve a little energy for the final (which started 40 min after our race). A german dude must have forgotten that there are no points for the prelim when he sprinted past me at the line....no problem, an easy 4th and moving to the finals!

Ohh, the final. This was not the time or the place to muck up the transitions. I had a good swim (other than getting breastroke-kicked in the eye socket around the first buoy), and excited the water 5th or so. Onto the bike, I made the same mistake as the first race, but this time Will Clarke (another British Olympian) attacked when I was putting on my shoes during the hill and broke up the group. Nobody would chase, so it was fellow FGP athlete, Pete Friedman and I who tried to chase down the lead group of 5. Not possible. We were stuck in no-man's land for the entirety of the bike, only to be swallowed up by the remaining 18-20 riders right before T2. I had good position going into T2, but struggled like never before putting on my shoes. I must have lost 10-15 sec alone in T2. I exited last. Ouch. Not what you want to do in a 2k run, as there is absolutely no room to make any time up. I caught a few guys, but simply couldnt turn my legs over fast enough and ran out of real-estate. I think I was 16th or something. Quite frustrating to say the least.

3 good things from the trip: 1)it was good training 2) I felt really strong 3)I got to see Scotland. Although I nearly missed the trip as I must have a giant target on my back. I got "special attention" at both the US embassy in Paris, and at the UK entry point in Scotland. When the border patrol man takes all of your posessions, says he will be right back, to take a seat, and whatever you do ABSOLUTELY do not move, you tend to get a little nervous.....

Now I am back in St Jean de Monts (via Amsterdam, Paris, St Cloud, Paris, St. Cloud, Paris, Nantes, St Jean). Lets just say that yesterday there was no "training," but I might have set an official world record of sprinting 1k with my bike box (from train to train to embassy to pool to train to train). Time to get some rest, recoup, and roll out this weekend for the FGP!

here is a pic of me leading the last FGP in Setton about 1k into the run

Cheers,
B

not so laboring day....

In l'etats d'Unis today is labor day. This has no real significance in France, except for the fact I am having some Passport issues here, and the good ole US embassy likes to take French AND American holidays off. So, I must wait until tomorrow to fix le probleme. Being that I am in France, and nothing can be done expediently, I am sure I will spend the better part of the week fixing the issue and not just tomorrow morning.

Other than the passport headache, things having been rolling quiter along. I haven't raced in ages....i think maybe two weeks? What have I been doing all this time? Training, of course. I have put in three really solid weeks of swimming and biking, coupled with two decent running weeks. I wouldn't say that the issue with my foot is completely resolved, but it is getting better/manageable. I got in 50 miles of running last week w/ two track sessions and two other hard brick sessions, so while the miles might be a little on the low side, I have got lots of intensity. Overall volume has been good as well. Last week with almost no running I got in 22 hours, and this week I logged 26.5 hours. My body feels like it is holding together all right. I have one more large week in this "block" of training. And then the fun begins....again.

Once again I think I have outdone myself on the travelling/racing front. Another 4 week around the world adventure begins this Friday! I am flying to Scotland to race a super-sprint triathlon x 2! There are prelims and finals and it should be a stacked race. After that it is back to France for my last Grand Prix team race. Hopefully we will move up to D1. After that it is back to the USA (Portland) for our National Champs. Then I decided to go back to the Orient and will race an ITU race in China again. After that back to the USA for good (at least a while). And will follow up with one more Olympic Distance race in California. This is beginning to sound a little like April.....

So five races in 4 weeks in four different countries on three continents. Somethimes I wonder if I am trying to kill myself. Oh, even though I have purchased the plane tickets for all of these races, they are all contingent on my passport issues getting resolved. Anyhow today is a much needed recovery day on this American holiday. I have some more work to get in before the madness starts again (did it ever really stop), so I better rest up....

Cheers,
B