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

olympic repechage

If there is anyone on this planet who hasnt been watching the Olympics, I'll clue them to what the repechage is. Basically it is what happens when you dont make the finals of your sport in the heats. Some sports get another round to advance to the finals, via a "loser's bracket." There is no repechage for swimming, but there is for rowing. Obviously there are no heats/finals in triathlon, but if there was a repechage in this 2008 Olympic year, it would undoubtedly be called The London Triathlon.

The London Triathlon is the largest triathlon in the world with around 12,000 people participating. crazy. While all of these weren't pro men, 70 of them were. And of said 70, we had multiple world champions (triathlon and duathlon), previous olympians, german national champions, the entire population of french professionals who didnt make their olympic team, cheeky brits, and basically everyone in the world who was a good triathlete. Since it was the same weekend as the opening ceremonies, no current Olympians were there. But apparently everyone else thought the same thing: "maybe i'll go to London this year because it is during the Olympics and the field wont be too strong." It was quite comical standing on the pontoon and listening to everyone talk about how ridiculously stacked this "easy" race had become. oh well, game on!

After 200m long false start in the water, courtesy of Benji Sansome (french, of course), the race actually started and we were off. The swim was mayhem, but I came out in the group. The transition was inside a convention hall (I started to have flashbacks to my various Boston Triathlon disasters). The bike was sketchy, turny, and windy. I got to the run, and had a little struggle. I finished 24th. Not really what I wanted, but I am keep grinding it out. The training will pay off soon!!

I have decided not to race again for 3 whole weeks! Why thats enough time to take a break, do some base training, and then get into the speedwork. All joking aside, I hurt my foot before/during/after London. I actually have been having foot problems for a while, but after London they got bad. I decided to take some time off to let them heal. Actually judging by the fact I could barely walk, I was forced to take some time off. After a week of R&R, well actually swimming loads and biking, my feet seem good enough to run on. I am in the midst of a large training block leading in to my next few races...I only have 4 more weeks here in France and then it is back to US of A. Then to China. Then US of A. Ahhhhh the travelling never stops. I have slept in so many different and strange beds this year. I have definately set a personal record. Since there is no races for a while and the GF just left France, I will send updates on training and whatever else is new to my life. until then enjoy the pics of me suffering in Londres

i look quasi-fast in this pic...

....and not so fast here

to be a tourist, if only for 3 hours

Cheers,

Barrett

i'll take it!

A win is a win. Well, in this case it was my first win of the season, but not in an actual triathlon. It was a "multisport" event. Technically it was an "aquathon" or "aquathlon." I dont really know the appropriate nomenclature. Anyhow, this race consisted of three stages: 200m swim/2k run, then 200m swim/4k run, and finally 400m swim/4k run. There was about 10min break in between each one so not too much rest. The one with thes fastest combined time from all three was the winner. It was only about a 800 total swim and 10k total run so it was a little more run focused....

I had decided a long time ago I was not going to do the race. Even though it was about an hour away I am getting a little tired of racing and just wanted to stay at home and train. Well the pool situation has been dismal at best in St Jean recently, and when I woke up Sunday morning to find that once again the pompiers (firemen) were again not swimming (which means I have no access to the pool. The ocean had huge swells so open water for the umpteenth time in the week was a no go. Allright I guess I have to drive down to the aquathlon and race to get in a good swim workout. My track workout for the day was turned into 10k of "aquathlon" race pace whatever that is.

As I arrvied I had two goals. One, to get a god solid swim warm up and cool down and a good workout on the swim portions of the race. Second I wanted to feel strong on the run portion. I had done a 1:45 progressive tempo long run the day before so my legs were quite smashed. I also figured that since the race was in the middle of nowhere and we were racing for peanuts that no one would show up. I though I would be out racing the dudes on my team and some other older Frenchies. Not the case....several D1 and D2 Frenchies decided that this would be fun to race. I had my work cut out for me. The race went from: "I am not doing it" to "I will just use it as a workout" to "I am going to have to get my butt in gear and race" To make matters worse there was an article in Ouest-France mag about how fast I swim and how I was the favorite for the race. How did they know I was even racing? I didnt even know I was racing until 3 hours before the race. Now I really have to do well!

If you have ever raced in Europe, especially France, you know how sketchy the courses can be. When the are designed it seems as if they try to hurt the athletes. How do you make an aquathlon sketchy? Since there is no bike, you have to be creative. Instead of starting people in or near the water, put them 100m or so away from the water under the giant finish banner. Next make the course short (way less than 200m) and put the turn buoy at like 50m away. And just for kicks, make eveyone run barefoot on jagged concrete (of course no carpet) and halfway through the run to the water insert a 90 degree left hand turn straight into a 10% downhill boat ramp (read pothotes and jagged concrete everywhere). Throw in testosterone, a narrow road, frenchies who couldn't break 2:00/100m in a pool but for some reason want to be first into the water, and huge boulders on either side if you "crash" and you have a race.

As far as the race itself. It was good. I was a little cautious on the first etape (I was not interested in doing the slip-n-slide on the boat ramp) which resulted in me exiting in 15th place after the quick shower/swim. I must have had the fastest run split, cause I was like last out of transition and the leaders were in a different time-zone. I put my head down and ran into 4th about 5 seconds behind the winner of the first race. Not too bad for me for the first one. My parents opted not to give me a SINGLE fast-twitch fiber from their gene pool. Le deuxieme etape went much better. I was second out of the water, took over the lead in transition and rocked the run to win the stage! Woo-hoo. The last race was even better. I led out of the water and led the whole run to take the third stage and 2008 Jard-Sur-Mer Aquathlon Victory (read: extreme sarcasm. This race is really not that important). I felt awesome on the runs and was really happy with how my legs responded being so tired. It was a real confindence booster to run well super tired, even if the race was not so important.

Now it is time to finish off the prep for London. London is a big race for me and hopefully I can rock it. It is high time for me to step up in some big races.....until next time!

warming up in the wetty

leading out of the water of round 3the race to my shoes

Cheers,
B

tactically perfect,

As is the norm this summer this weekend brought another race. This one was in France and it was the second race for my club team, St Jean De Monts. We are in the fight to move up divisions next year (like European soccer) and our manager was fired up for our team.

My race went ok, but again not quite great. I had an easy swim comfortably in the first pack. Onto the bike I felt great. Our small lead pack was caught by the 2nd and 3rd pack and swelled to over 70 people. 70 people combined with crazy small European roads meant super-sketch-ville. I fought hard to get to the front on the last lap of the bike. Into the second transition I was second wheel. Out of the second transition and onto the run I quickly moved to the lead with 70 people streched out behind me. I have tried to be more aggressive in my racing and this was going perfect! I got a little too excited and took off. I lead the race until about 1.5-2k when the wheels came off. I exploded. I hung on for the next 3k, but faded to 15th. Our team ended up 2nd so we are sitting really good for next year.

I was really happy with how aggressive I raced, but again a little disappointed with my run. So after a few weeks of racing and rest, it is back to my bread and butter: miles and long repeats. I think I have focused a little too much on speed, and need to get back to working on my efficiency and endurance. Back to the grindstone.......The London Triathlon is my next race in two weeks. First time to the UK and pretty excited about it. Here are some pic's from the weekend of my team and the race.

Which way do we go?

And we're off!

Cheers,

B

Coupe de Monde Round #2

This one is a little hard to write. I had been looking forward to racing the World Cup in Austria for a long time. I have been in "camp" mode for about 7 weeks stringing together my most consistent block of training ever. I was really hoping for a top 20 classement and thought my fitness was good enough to achieve it. I just finished up nearly three weeks fo hard training with Dirk and was ripping to race. Nevertheless sometimes you have those days. Sunday was one of them. I couldnt even manage to run tempo....

The swim was a little hectic. It was really cold, but not cold enough for wetsuits. I decided to not do a swim warm up because of my inability to deal with getting too cold in the water. Got smashed around like a rag doll for the first lap. Not so bueno. I exited the first of the two lap swim in what felt like last. I dove back in the water at the the end of a very long line. I had to bridge quite a few gaps on the second lap, but overall the pace was not too hard and I had a great 2nd lap. I exited the water with quite a few other big name athletes, but a little back from the leaders. We eventually caught the first pack and I felt quite good. On to the run.....

The wheels came off. No idea what happened. I went out hard for about 1k and that was it. I had no gas, and I have no explanation. I thought maybe I was just a little tired and would eventually come around, but the run actually got worse throughout the 10k. 2 days after the race now, I still dont know what happened. I am taking this week really, really, easy to get my body and legs to come right. I have been smashing myself and racing way too much, so I think some relaxation should be good for me. I have a French Grand Prix team race this weekend so I need to be ready. I think maybe the body just wants a little breather...
Here are some pics from the World Cup in Austria:

Team America

leading out the chase

The weekend before this race I hopped in a local race in Ecthernach, just outside Luxembourg City. I had a great swim leading out of the water, was in a break on the bike for 25k of the 40k and ended up 4th. Lots of good pics though and a tough, fun race.

Do I really want to do this?

sortie l'eau that one hurt a bit

Well thats it for this post. After this week of recuperation I hope to write another race report, but this time with good news! In the mean time i'll keep my chin up, and my wheels down...
Cheers,
B