Buffalo Springs 70.3

On Sunday June 26^th I raced the Buffalo springs 70.3 Triathlon. Coming off a solid race two weeks ago in Kansas it was time to get after it again. Temperatures all week were expected to be over 100degrees and I was excited to race. Hotter the better I kept telling myself. 

Since it was a pretty low key prize/points purse I figured it was time to start taking some risks and try and get in the mix from start to finish no matter how I finished. The point was I wanted to be on the podium I didn’t want to play anything safe for an average finish no matter what the outcome. 

Swim

Believe it or not with high temperatures somehow the race director filled Buffalo Springs lake with dump truck loads full of ice to get the water temperature to 74degrees making it a wetsuit swim. Don’t get me wrong I like Mike and Marti but it was a little too hot outside for a wetsuit swim. They even moved the start time up for all of the waves because they knew dehydration was going to be a factor. I tried to follow Cotters lead and wear no cap to help stay a bit cool but I was caught when lining up and forced to put my cap back on. As the gun went off there was a quick run in and a few dolphin dives and the next thing I knew I was sitting in second to 3^rd place around the first few buoys. Three quarters through I felt over heated and fatigued and fell off Cotter and Anderson’s feet and ended up pulling a train along the rest of the way. Regardless it was a good swim and I ran into T1 in 4^th position. 

 Bike

The first 50 minutes of the ride I was at the back of the lead group and pushing good wattage and boom. An athlete went by me and I stood up and took a few pedal strokes to at least match his pace as we were coming into a big hill where it was bunching up and I was hit with a penalty. Worse thing was another athlete had to pass me on the right side as I was talking to the motor cycle and he was hit with a penalty as well. Totally my fault but after we spent time arguing back and forth the lead group was further up the road and gaining. I spent the next 20 minutes into the head wind chatting with myself. I just smashed a hard swim and first 20miles of the ride and I am hit with a penalty. Are you a moron Brent? What were you thinking?  The rest of the ride I spent riding with Brandon Marsh and entered T2 just behind Cotter and Marsh. The temperatures were on the up and up and I assumed it was getting near 100degrees to start the run. 

Run 

The start of the run I quickly passed Marsh and Cotter and started trying to pick up some of the athlete’s who had an advantage on me. After the first turn around I had moved into 8^th and I had 7^th and 6^th just in front of me. I was running like a man on a mission and boom the heat and everything started to catch up to me. To make matters worse somehow I tripped over something and stubbed my toe running around a corner and I could feel my toe start to hurt. Still I pushed on and eventually it turned into a death march for me hobbling the last few miles and coming 8^th. I didn’t go to Lubbock to come 8^th but some times that’s how things roll. Congrats to Raynard Tissink and Kelly Williamson for taking the overall titles. 

A couple of IV’s later, some recovery nutrition and massage I felt good. I learned that you can’t take out anger during long races because you get into a cycle of smash yourself- slow down, get angry- smash your self, slow down. Positive notes are I know things are on the up and up and I look forward to toeing the line in a couple weeks at Muncie 70.3. 

I would like to congratulate all the athletes who raced in the heat and survived as well as I would like to thank my Coach Cliff English, SVSS, K-SWISS, RTS Bikes, Powerbar, Colonels bikes,  and Xterra Wetsuits for there continued support. 1 more race and I should have enough WTC 70.3 points to secure a spot for Vegas as I sit around 35^th right now. 

Ironman 70.3 Buffalo Springs Lake 

Buffalo Springs Lake, Texas

June 26, 2011

S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.

Results

Elite Men

1. Raynard Tissink (RSA) 4:03:27

2. Michael Lovato (USA) 4:04:22

3. Josiah Middaugh (USA) 4:05:51

4. Joe McDaniel (USA) 4:06:52

5. James Bowstead (NZL) 4:11:26

6. Andres Castillo (COL) 4:13:15

7. Gavin Anderson (USA) 4:14:55

8. Brent Poulsen (USA) 4:15:16

9. Matthew Russsell (USA) 4:15:55

10. Peter Clode (NZL) 4:17:14

Domestique Diaries Returns with The Better Half!

Well it's been forever since I've blogged and for that I apologize, time got in my way! However, in my absence I have learnt how to video blog (and even edit them) which is a definite time saver, well after the learning took place!

So, prior to introducing my first video I want to first explain to you the amount of veggies and fruit Brent eats in one day. To put it plainly when we eat at Jason's Deli and Brent gets the salad bar at least three people say something along the lines of "save some veggies for us". This is how much veggies I used to cut every night. Cutting veggies and fruit were consuming me, so I changed to cutting them on Sunday afternoons. I would stand in the kitchen for two hours preparing and chopping 4 huge bowls of veggies and fruits that Brent would eat for the week. It freed up my weeknight time, but put a damper on my Sunday afternoon chores. Then one early morning at the gym I saw the info-mercial for the Salad Chef Genius and went right out to Bed Bath and Beyond to get it! This along with our Vitamix has saved me so much time. Now, on Sundays I chop the fruit and veggies and make a batch of hummus in no time at all and Brent fuels like a champ all week with no hassle from me! Below in the video are the best kitchen tools at work!! And the song is also so fitting! :)

Happy chopping,

Carley

K-SWISS KANSAS 70.3

K-SWISS Kansas 70.3 Triathlon Update

This Sunday I raced the K-SWISS Kansas 70.3 triathlon. It was a fun trip traveling up to Lawrence with my good buddy Travis Thomason. Other than getting caught in a Tornado/Hail storm in Wichita on Thursday, and getting lost on Friday we made it safe and sound. I have been slowly increasing my Iron levels and have started to feel good; so I was pretty excited to race.

RACE DAY
Luckily the nasty weather held off but we were forced with an unexpected choppy swim.
Thanks to my Xterra Vendetta wetsuit I was able to come out in the lead group that had all of the race leaders (Matthews, Kahn , Bell, Umphenour, Guillaume, Castillo, Rhodes, Anderson) in a time of 24:55. At this point I had a few calf cramps while exiting transition and I lost the lead group. Afraid to push the pedals too hard the first 5 minutes and make things worse I waited until my calf better, and was passed by a few others (Rix, McDaniel) who were riding well and made it up to the front. Looking back that was my opportunity to ride off those guys and pace myself up to the front. Luckily I was able to ride with Gavin Anderson most of the ride and make my way into transition.

It was my first time racing with power(big thanks to Mark Howard) and that kept my mind going and my attention span in the present. My bike split was a little weak but looking back I could have pushed harder (2:19:59) based on the wattage I have been training at lately.

Off the bike I ran 1:16:58 (thanks to my K-SWISS K-RUUZ) to finish 7th overall (4:04) and cap the day with a bit of prize money and WTC Points for the 70.3 Championships in Vegas in September.

Now it’s time to recover and get ready for Buffalo Springs 70.3 in a couple of weeks time. Congrats to Paul Mathews and Chrissie Wellington for taking the overall W’s as well as the other athlete’s who made it to the yellow brick road at the finish line. It was inspiring to watch everyone.

Ironman 70.3 Kansas
Lawrence, Kansas
June 12, 2011
D 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 ni.

Men

1. Paul Matthews (AUS) 3:49:44
2. David Kahn (USA) 3:55:46
3. Luke Bell (AUS) 3:56:13
4. Romain Guillaume (FRA) 3:59:17
5. Joe McDaniel (USA) 4:00:53
6. Andres Castillo ( ) 4:03:22
7. Brent Poulsen (CAN ) 4:04:18
8. Joe Umphenour (USA) 4:05:18
9. Tony White (USA) 4:05:56
10. Torsten Abel (GER) 4:06:33


Thanks to my Coach Cliff English, Spring Valley Spine and Sport, K-SWISS, RTS Bikes, Xterra Wetsuits, Powerbar, Louis Garneau and Colonels Bikes for getting me set up to perform at my best!

See you in Lubbock,
BP

Visit with Cobb Cycling

A quick visit with Cobb Cycling, and now it's time for Kansas 70.3 this weekend!