Buffalosprings 70.3

Yesterday I raced Buffalosprings 70.3 in Lubbock, Texas. A world class field and hot conditions, therefore i knew it was not going to be an easy day.
Off the start I found myself getting beaten up before we got to the first buoy. I was easily swimming where I needed to be but I had one guy on my left and one on my right that thought it would be necessary to hit me in the face each stroke. By the time I made it to the first turn I was spit out the back and swimming with a slower pack that I shouldn't have been in. I felt like i was doing "fist drill" for half of the duration trying to get these guys off me. Today I feel like a UFC fighter with annoying cut knuckles that burn and re-open every time I bend my fingers.

I decided to remain calm and focus on getting myself back into striking distance by the time we got to the run. Coming off the bike I immediately started getting after it as I knew I was in 10th place. By the time 7 miles came on the hilly hot course I was in 6th place and starting to feel the early run effort. Half way through the energy lab I wanted to make an attempt at catching 5th before the finish. Unfortunately a couple of hard miles and I was starting to cramp. With two miles to go I was passed by 6th(Tim Reed, Aus);and 7th(Mario de Elias, Arg),place and i had moved back into 8th place. I had the second fastest run on the day in 1:20:20 and had another consistent top 10 finish. I want to congratulate all of the finishers yesterday (especially Bo on his first 70.3, amazing!) on fighting through that challenging course.

Congrats to Mags for taking the woman's title and Chris Lieto for winning the men's.
Thanks to K-SWISS, Powerbar and Colonels bikes for all of your support. And of course to Carley for putting up with through all the long car rides. Next up I will be putting in a big block of training to get ready for Calgary 70.3!
Tomorrow is Carley's Birthday (we've had a countdown calendar posted on the fridge for the past 30 days) so I better get ready.

Thanks for reading,
Brent

Domestique Diaries- Triathlete’s Race Season and Update!

It’s been a while since the last edition of Domestique diaries, and for that I apologize, we have been crazy busy with race season now in full force! Race season while living a triathlete is very hectic, and consists of loads of laundry and nutrition, long road trips, nervous attitudes and early bedtimes!! Below are some highlights of the past 1.5 months in the life of a domestique!

PACKING FOR A ROADY--- Packing for Brent starts the week before the race. He starts to empty out all of this training drawers while sorting through the stuff he needs. Then he piles all the stuff he needs for the race on the floor in the corner of the living room and throws everything else back into any drawer or even the laundry (although it’s all clean). The night before we leave he starts to line things up on the counter. One day I came home and even his racing flats were on the counter, nasty!!

Road trips with a triathlete- TO THE RACE- The trip down is filled with nervous air, and the conversation is usually difficult to maintain mainly because Lil’ Wayne is blaring the entire way. We also make more than frequent restroom stops (like every hour or less) because Brent is attempting to stay hydrated and likes to get out of the car to stretch frequently. Brent does all the driving stating that I will have to more than likely drive home. We eat routine snacks the entire way from the cooler, and we play road trip games in an attempt to keep his mind off the race.

--HOME FROM THE RACE-- The way home is the opposite. One way to describe this is to “Hammer it out”. I have to beg Brent to stop for the restroom, he drives the entire way, and I usually am starving to death. The conversation is always about the race or training and it never stops even when I try to sleep, we analyze and over analyze everything for the last month of training and the race in extreme detail. We just drove home 8 hours from Kansas I think I got to stop twice, even my legs were cramped, and Brent spent most of the drive in the TT position. I offer to drive all the time, but he just can’t sit in the passenger seat for more than 5 minutes, even if he just raced for 4 hours while I sat around!

TRAINING-- Training is intense during this time and recovery is key. I run many, many ice baths, hook Brent up to electrical stimulation most nights, and don’t mind too much when he lays on the carpet with his legs elevated while I finish the chores.

I also bought a new road bike. Getting used the clips was quite an ordeal. The first ride Brent takes me on is an easy spin for him, and I fall twice. Little did I know, Brent was taking me on a 2 hours 45 minutes ride, in which I think I saw Brent twice the whole ride. I’m getting better and wiser on the bike now. I only go with Brent when he’s running. I’m now the motor pacing, lead bike, water carrier and have even mastered riding a road bike on a dirt path while taking pictures. I also like to go on frequent tanning rides.

CHALLENGES--- When you live with a triathlete the word challenge takes on a whole new meaning. Just say the word and it’s on! In May I mentioned a Dine In Challenge with friends, co-workers and training partners. We were not allowed to eat anything from a restaurant the entire month. Give a challenge to a triathlete that has the potential to improve performance and let me tell you he will not cheat. I had to cheat once while my mom was in town, Brent came and sat with us until our meal came and then he left to go home and eat dinner on his own! That’s determination! Now we have monthly challenges in our household because Brent was immediately hooked. Also, shout out to Cam for nailing the Dine In Challenge!!

I got to pick June’s Challenge and it’s the Core Challenge. We have to do core everyday no matter what. We (Brent) drove 8 hours home from Kansas and got home just in time to complete our core exercises before midnight.

MISC-- Over the month Brent won a fish at swim race, we named him Lance. We went out and bought a tank and a friend (Floyd). Lance ate Floyd. We went away for the weekend and left a food block for Lance. When we got home his tank was filthy. I cleaned it and Lance died. No more fish for us!

Summer is here and it is hot!

Next up is Buffalo Springs 70.3 in none other than Lubbock TX. At least we don’t have to drive North two states!

Happy Training,

Carley

small update

Sunday I raced the KSWISS Kansas 70.3 in Lawrence, KS and came 6th. The race went well considering a bug I encountered earlier on in the week. I seemed to get my appetite back by Saturday but still felt a bit weak during the swim/bike portions of the race.

The swim was good I lost contact of Yoder and Lieto around the last buoy when we were turning back into shore. I knew Potts and Hackett would be off the front; i exited the water in 5th place going out on the bike 20seconds or so behind Chris. Next race i will make sure i don't lose touch. Out on the bike is where i really felt drained but i tried to keep focused and eventually i was passed by a few stronger cyclists. Going into the run i was back in 8th place but i was able to catch 2 athlete's and was ready to catch another (5th)but just ran out of time. I was happy with my run split on the day because to be honest I really had some rough patches on the last lap. I really enjoyed the hilly hot Kansas course but the drive home was insane. After the race Carley and I drove 7.5 hours back to Texas and that was the hardest part of the day.
Congrats to all of the athlete's that raced on Sunday! Next up is Buffalosprings 70.3 June 27th:)

June

It's amazing how fast a month goes. Off to Kansas tonight for the KSWISS Kansas 70.3 triathlon. May went really well, a few up's and downs and i am now just getting over some sort of food poisoning that occured on the lovely holiday weekend. I have started working with a new coach and things have been going great, more on that later. In June i will be racing Kansas and Buffalo springs 70.3 so stay tuned for fun stories and extreme adventures. The posts will be picking up steadily with news and race reports. Thanks for checking in! Brent

The Good, The bad and The Ugly

Two weeks ago I would have gone as far as saying I was in the best shape to date and ready to roll. However, this past week i have been fighting with allergies and some lower back tightness that was making me question if i should race or not. The problem with allergies is you wake up feeling like death and often i would be awake half the night for the week leading into the race. I was so excited to start my season that Carley and I went to Galveston for Texas 70.3 and US Pro Championships and i was going to give it the ol' college try even if i had to carry tissue and nasal spray with me.

Starting off in the swim i felt good, i blasted myself off course(oops!) and took some others with me and then exited the water about 30-45seconds down where i needed to be, my back was starting to hurt but i figured it would be okay once i got on the bike. Looking back i lined up on the wrong side and should have positioned myself with the guys i knew would be out in the lead, plus i should have been paying more attention to the winds and the current.

It just gets uglier from here. I ripped off my speed suit taking my # belt with it, okay jog back into transition and get the number as everyone passes out onto the bike. I hop on my bike and land on one shoe as it flies off, okay more time being lost. I felt completely loopy, the sort of feeling you get when you have had to many antihistamines, ibprofuin and nasal spray and not enough coffee.

As i smashed myself up the road, i noticed that there was something wrong, i rode the first half the bike being passed left and right just to notice at the turn around that my wheel was rubbing ever so slightly making it very difficult. The last half of the bike i was clearly out of the race and i rode in with some back tightness, very stuffed up from my allergies and i headed home. The funny part is after a 5hour car ride i felt pretty good, oh well life goes on. My back is better today, however i will be having everything looked at just to double check. Rather than dwell on the situation i have decided to keep moving forward knowing that my fitness was there but my health was not.

I would like to thank everyone for there kind messages over the weekend. I will make sure the next time i start a race i am ready to go. Also a special thanks to Ron for loaning me his wheels. I learned a big lesson- Don't use a 1080 front wheel in hurricane winds! Thank you Colonels, KSWISS Canada, Powerbar, 7 Systems, SLS3, and all my other supporters. Congrats to everyone for finishing the race and battling the winds. Also a special mention to Lance who placed in his age group, William, Jarrod, Cody, Anthony, Brian, Alison. It was great to meet lots of new people! And last but not least thank you to Carley for having to spend 5 hours with me a in a car after a DNF:(.

Domestique Diaries- A Triathlete’s Christmas

What’s a triathlete’s equivalent to a kid on Christmas morning?..... Receiving PowerBar Sponsorship nutrition and clothing in the mail!! Or as Brent and I like to call it "Fuel Day", No joke, the anticipated week of it’s arrival I heard about it so many times that I was having PowerBar dreams!

Brent was named to the PowerBar Elite team this season and the minute he heard the news he was on the website placing his orders. Every night we studied the PowerBar website over dinner and Brent talked about it endlessly. He even knows all of the staff at the PowerBar headquarters because he has called them so many times! I can honestly say that I have now memorized the nutritional composition of every PowerBar product. I even find myself talking about it at work to co-workers!

The day the first load of product arrived at our doorstep was more exciting to Brent than Christmas morning. All plans that we had scheduled for that night automatically got pushed to the back burner, new focus was to study, and organize all his PowerBar product.

Below are some pictures of Brent and the PowerBar product

He studied the product for so long he even got tired, however continued to study the product in supine.

That night we even went Target to buy storage containers for all his product. He wanted everything organized and to have it’s own home. He looked at the expiration dates of all the products and organized two cupboards based on product use and expiration date; he used the containers for extra product and to be refilled upon use from the cupboards.

It’s been two weeks since Brent has been using the PowerBar product and we still talk about as much as we did while waiting for the product to arrive. Nutrition is a key factor in a triathlete’s success and Brent is elated to be using PowerBar products. Brent restocks the cupboards every second day from the storage bins. He wants the cupboards to be full at all times.

You know you’re living with a triathlete when:

-Your calendar contains a "Fuel Day"

-You store most of the contents of your cupboards on top of your fridge because your cupboards are filled with training/PowerBar products

-The only cupboards that are organized immaculately (all the way down to expiration date) in your house are the “training cupboards”

Merry Fuel Day,

Carley

Update and New Sponsors!

First off I apologize for the lack of posts lately. Time fly's by when your training alot and working alot. I am excited about two new sponsors i have for this year. The first one is 7Systems which Jasper Blake introduced me to back in Victoria. This stuff is amazing. Click on the the right logo on the side of blog to go to their site. I have been able to train myself into the ground on these vitamins and minerals and my immune system and body has stayed strong. I am also happy to announce i will be part of the Powerbar Elite Team for 2010-2011 season. I would like to thank Frank and everyone at Powerbar as i am very grateful to be part of this program.

Training has been rolling along lately with Lonestar 70.3 coming up in a few weeks. It will be my first race of the season so i am excited to shake off the rust and get back in the competitive mode. Training has been going great but it's so early in the year to really tell so i would rather wait till race day to evaluate where i am at for this time of year. It should be a big start in Galvaston as they have also made it US Pro 70.3 Championships. I hope everyone had a safe Easter weekend and good luck to everyone racing over the next few weeks.