FUBAR Syracuse 70.3 Race Recap

"Fucked Up Beyond Any Repair"

Muhammad Ali said it best when he said, “I hated every minute of training, but I said, Don't quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.”

The Owner of Ironman expresses a similar concept,"Swim 2.4 miles. Bike 112 miles. Run 26.2 miles. Brag for the rest of your life!"

Shortly after my arrival into Rochester, NY I picked up my bike from FedEx and put it together. I was reminded of why I live and train in Boulder when I was greeted with 60* temps and a mix of rain with a shot of cold. I also found that when you fill your bike tires up at alt. they will be under less pressure here at sea level, they were flat! Which made for an interesting test ride after no pump was found.

Other then the tires the ride went well and I reintroduced the legs to this thing called biking. It wasnt more then 5 miles and everything seemed in good shape except for having a miss alignment of the front wheel and handle bars (quick fix). I guess sometimes I just cant see straight, Its like those times you hang a picture and swear that the ceiling or floor is crooked.

The next day I went for a short run of 1.5 miles at 7:48 pace and I actually had sore hamstrings from my test bike ride the day earlier. This leads me to believe that I may have tapered a little early (which is tough when you have to ship your bike 5 days early). We then packed up the car for an hour ride headed to Syracuse for packet pick up around 2pm under sunny skies and warmer temps that were not destine to last. The expo was pretty much the weakest I've ever seen but the pick up was very organized.




After signing my life away and getting my wrist band we headed down to Jamesville Park to check in our bikes (to leave overnight). I had a great TA spot about 3 rows from the bike out transition and was even greeted by a sticker with my name on it. After pumping up my tires to 105 psi and changing the gears to prepare for the short hill that started at the mount line, we went to the water to check out the swim course. The water was 62*, cold, but manageable in a wetsuit. The Transition from the swim to the bike however was about 800m long spanning across a rocky parking lot. I felt like they could have had the transition a little closer to the water, but I guess this isnt Nam, there are rules.

I had Grilled chicken and garlic pasta for dinner and went to bed around 10pm, after visiting with some old friends who were just in awe at the mere mention of this race.

The morning of the Race:

I got up at 4:45 not feeling nervous or tired in the slightest. I opened a good luck card as I ate my bagel. Apparently the secret surprise awaiting me at the finish line was that Ky, flying and traveling through the night from Ashville to Syracuse to be there. Cue the nerves, but more so I was just in disbelief and concentrated my focus on getting to that finish line. The drive to the start line was about 40 mins with an added 40 mins due to limited park access and the morons directing people to park (they seriously needed additional training), dont worry, I told them a thing or two.

Due to our late arrival the bathroom lines were already long so my sister and I opted for the woods. We set up our transition areas just as they were closing it, got kicked out of there and then 5 mins later they delayed the start by 15 mins and reopened. We got our body marking out of the way and picked up our chips (not sure why they did this the day of the race but it ran pretty smoothly).

I was the first AG wave (30-34) right after the Pro Men and Pro Women. My wave seemed stacked!! I waded into the water at about position center, offset right. The air temp was about 58*, much warmer then the 44* expected and I enjoyed the fact of not having to stand around in my wetsuit for an hour waiting for my wave start. The announcer seemed a bit groggy still and really didnt get the excitement from the crowd.

My swim was extremely bumpy at first, but I stayed calm, steady, and strong throughout, and fended off my space with honor. I had moments where I was next to someone and did manage to draft a little. With 1000m to go I felt strong, and even passed a pro male. I could have pushed it maybe 2 mins faster but took it easy as this is a long race.

My T1: Ran without a stagger but huffing pretty good to my bike. Took some water and got the rest of my wetsuit off. I decided to put my socks on now and not have my bike shoes already attached to the bike (since it was a wet grassy run to the mount line).

It was still dark when I got on my bike and my sunglasses instantly fogged up making it hard to see anything at all. At mile 2, the first turn, I hit a storm grate but kept on trucking. At mile 3 I was greeted by a massive hill that slowed progress but I did pass a few people still recovering from their swim (I guess thats the Boulder in me).

At mile 5 there was trouble! My front tire went flat. I stayed calm though, knowing that it was way too early for a flat but nothing I could do about it, I formed solutions not hysteria. It only took me 7 mins to change out and I was back rolling. At mile 6 however my back tire started to thud a bit and I thought I may have bent my rim from that sewer grate.




Downhill at mile 10, my first opportunity for a little rest I had a massive blowout. Air was rushing out of somewhere and at first I thought it was just my compressed air, but about half way down the hill I had my second flat. Second flat with no way of repairing it because I had already used my one reserve tube. Basically I was screwed! I took off my wheel and walked up the hill in my bike shoes (I figured no one would stop on the down slope but there was a chance of flagging someone down at the top of the hill when they were still going slow). I managed to flag down #218 telling him its over for me, I just want to finish, and he let me have a tube. Thanks man!

I was starting to hate the bike section and even though I had spent time off the bike, my legs and body were by no means recovered. I took it slow, determined stay on the bike and not to have another flat.

That was until mile 15 when that back tire I had just repaired, went flat. Those compressed air cans really are only a one time use thing even if you get the size 16. This time I had to borrow air and a tube but I was on a flat and the riders passing me were going much slower. Rider 246 felt my pain and without stopped dropped supplies beside me in the grass and pedeled on. I wasnt even half way yet and I was starting to feel like I was on some pit crew or something. By this time it had started to rain and I stowed the sunglasses. A dense fog had rolled in preventing anyone from seeing more then 2 miles in front of them and the inability of seeing how high the next hill was. An hour had already passed since I left transition and I had a lot of race left to go. The first water station was around this point and I grabed some G2. I was surprised of how many spectators were out cheering us on and making noise, that was awesome!




At mile 20 I passed by a ski resort which had mowed the face of the main run all but the a HUGE Ironman M and the Dot. Wish I had a picture of that. Half way, it was time to get back to my plan and have a gel, I mean not having a flat tire for over 10 miles was something to celebrate at this point. The party was short lived when faced with another massive hill to conquer. This one even took a few bikers off their bikes and on foot. Something that I refuse to allow in my tool shed!

The next 30 miles were a blur exept for the 12 Warriors standing at one of the turns roaring their heads off (finishers of the Warrior Dash, NY a day earlier). To be honest I dont know what happened to me in the last 10 miles but I know it was slow because I was getting passed by people that I should have never seen the whole race.

I reached the dismount line itching to get off, along side another guy with similar feelings but poor exicution. As he teetered over still clipped in I skidded down the wet grass to my spot. My socks were soaked so I decided to change them and I had had to go to the bathroom for 2 hours now so I stopped by the jon on my way out to run. My legs were beat but not entirely heavy, I thought to myself.. im off the bike, there is nothing that is going to stop me from finishing now.

The run course started out with this wacky u-turn and apparently the bathroom idea was contagious. At mile 3 the curse returned and I was overcome by the worst stomach cramps of my life. I was slowed to a humbling hunched-over walk. I stopped at each water station for liquid intake and left it in search of the next a mile a way, taking it a mile at a time. At mile 6 it wasnt getting better, I pulled off into McDonalds, no not for a Big Mac. I began to shake and I even threw up. Downed more water and after 30 mins of this I decided it was time to get to the next mile. As I got back on course my sister was there trotting along and looking strong. We walked a little and I told her my troubles so that she would be able to relay the info to my fans at the finish (a destination I was now 3 hours late to).




I spent 30 mins at mile 7 sitting on the curb in the fetal position hoping for the pain to subside when Ky came running up from the finish nearly 6 miles away to try to find me. Before that moment all they knew from Ironmanlive.com was that I had finished the bike and was somewhere out on the run. I was in rough shape but after 4cups of water I started to feel a little better.

I got to mile 9.3 and reached a point where I couldnt go on. My first Ironman 70.3 was going to be a Fail. I couldnt stand up straight, It was too painful to even move, I was wet and now cold from the lack of movement. Getting your timing chip taken off is one of the worst feelings in the world. This is when you succumb to the realization that the dream will not be coming true today.

As it turns out, the training was the easy part and no amount of preparation can see you through when luck is not on your side. So How do I feel? Part of me agrees with Thomas Edison, "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that don't work," but what have I learned from this? Much of it was out of my control. Either way I will forever have the experience under my belt and I wouldnt take back my decision to enter, they dont call it a "Tri" because its a walk in the park. I guess we can consider this attempt #1 and every training cycle and race from here on out will be that much stronger because I redefined my limits that much more.

Looking at the positives: I had a great swim and new PR in that, I was able to finish the bike course even though I couldnt keep air in my tires, and I did complete 66.3 miles which is more then enough activity for one day.

Whats next?

Not sure. Right now its dependent on how my body recovers. In the days that followed I had sore ankles, knees, shoulder and my bodily systems were not representative of the well oiled machine I was going into the race. I'll be seeking medical opinion to try to figure out what happend and if its even safe to have a second attempt.

SWIM BIKE RUN OVERALL RANK DIV.POS.
35:40 3:25:13 --:-- --:-- -- --

LEG DISTANCE PACE RANK DIV.POS.
TOTAL SWIM 1.2 mi. (35:40) 1:52/100m 402 59


TOTAL BIKE 56 mi. (3:25:13) 16.37 mph


TOTAL RUN 13.1 mi. (--:--) --/mile --

TRANSITION TIME
T1: SWIM-TO-BIKE 3:33
T2: BIKE-TO-RUN 4:54


I want to thank Ky, and my family for coming down and showing their support (sorry for the scare), and my fans for their support through my long 10 months of training. My goal was to at least inspire others and modivate them to get out there and try new things. Feel free to ask me any questions you may have about the race or my experience.

Boulder Res TT

I didnt get much sleep last night so I got up and had a little breakfast and then took a 1.5 hour nap. The swim area didnt open up until 10am (which is way later then I'd want to start a TT with the warm summer days and hot sun). I felt a little better on round 2 but my legs and feet were achy for some reason.

I got to the Boulder Res park around 10 and began setting up. I backed my car up to the bike rack and locked my bike to that. I then filled up a shallow plastic tub with water to act as a foot rinse. My transition area was the tailgate of my hatchback car. I laied out my towel and shoes, some water and clif blocks.

The swim today was sands wetsuit, the water ended up being about 68* and it was cold at first but I got used to it within a few mins. After that I wasted no time in kicking this TT off with a strong but smooth swim (5 laps). Each lap was calculated to be @300m which should have given me a 1500m swim but I finished in 16mins (half the time of my Boulder Peak swim), so im guessing theres some error there and ill call the swim @1000m for now. Its amazing how much better you swim when you dont have to worry about navigation, bumping into people, turning at the wall, or goggle/ ear plug leakage.

I ran out of the water like a swamp monster attacking the half naked beach goers sunning on the beach. Without my usual stagger and constricted run I got to the car feeling great but extremely confused with that swim time.

I unlocked my bike, threw on my socks and bike shoes, locked the car back up (with the key, one gel, a bottle of water and a bottle of G2 strapped to my bike) and hit the streets. The previously overcast morning had turned into mostly sunny with a chance of 90!! I swear I dried off in the first mile. Included in that distance was my first of 3 hills going out that I would have to conquer, this is where I realized how much I used my legs on the swim, and how much less power they had in them then I had on the same ride a few nights prior (my first 20 mph ride!). Lets get one thing straight, these are not hills, these are pretty much mountains or mega hills in my way. I got into a nice rhythm even though I didnt have music on me and tried to take in my surroundings to keep my mind sharp. I made it to the turn around after a long rest down hill, but you know what comes after that. Yea I had to go back up that same hill and I didnt really get into attack mode until half way up it. I was good about keeping a steady supply of water and G2 and at my first major down hill I took the gel (powerbar strawberry banana). It was a little sticky and doesnt taste as great when its sun cooked. After that I took a few swigs of water and stowed the wrapper down the back of my shorts.

I was surprised that I was stopped only one time by lights but it was one of the longer ones and gave me more rest time then I would have liked (trying to keep this as a mock race). The T2 was at the bottom of a hill so I slipped out of my shoes and put my feet on top of them to let the feet breath and come back to life a little. I only had a little bit of numbness but by the time I got off the bike I was good to go.

T2 I unlocked the car and re locked the bike, took a block and some water and slipped on my shoes (with my new elastic laces). My legs felt pretty good and again I was surprised with the quick bike time (turns out that it was 3 miles short). I felt like I was taking it easy out of the gate on the run and much of the first 2 miles was downhill but when Ky tried to drive up to me, park and hand me water she was unable to catch up to me so went on to the next parking lot along the route. It was probably around 6:45 to 7 min pace and then the only major hill on the run slowed me down a bit even though I fought it hard. My Calv's were burning but I never really got too out of breath. My right toes were going numb after that and slowed me down. The first up hill burned my calfs and I had a little pain in my right ankle. The water hand off a mile down the road was a successful one however, it wasnt water!! Nope it was very strongly mixed Gadorade and it burned going down. I remember my last race that surprise happened and I choked on it, and let me tell you Gadorade stings when its coming out of your nose.

I was alone for the next 2 miles on a stretch of path that I had never been on, there was a little shade and a cross wind breeze to cool me down (I seriously wanted to just jump in the lake at this point). I grabbed my water from the bushes where I had stashed it during my set up and skipped the gel I had planned on taking at this point. I felt strong and I now had company (Ky on her bike pacing me to the finish). She said she was amazed at how much stronger I looked on the run this time then I did at the Boulder Peak event of the same distance. I did feel strong, I didnt "go" but I did feel strong and didnt slow up the last 2 miles.

After the finish I downed a whole bottle of water and felt a lot better then I did in July. To combate overheating I went back into the swim area to wade around a bit and muttle over how the TT went. Its a new Olympic distance PR (even when you add in extra swim and bike time). It was a huge confidence builder and the only major problem was that I held back too much in each event when I could have pushed a faster pace. In all, I feel ready for 2x that distance.

1000m, 20.36 mile, 6.2 mile

Swim: 16:00 Pace
T1: 3:30
Bike: 1:4:19 Pace=18.99
T2: 2:00
Run: 45:46 Pace=7:22

Total: 2:11:02


Description: Boulder Res TT Notes: After a 3:30 T1 I got on the bike out 55th to Right on Jay Rd, L on Independence, L on Diagonal, Right on Jay, Left on 63, Right on Spine, Right on Lookout, to 95th and then turn around, Left on 75th and Right on Jay Rd, Right on 55 to T2.

Early morning swim with BAM

My Swim this morning...


Man 5:10 am is early. I was awake before the alarm but still questioned even going this morning. In the end I got my ass up and ate a little and felt better. It was a great mock race morning, and even my stomach played its natural role. I got up to the Res a might early and got a few pix of the sunrise as they unloaded kayaks and bouys.

I signed the waver and it was my first time with BAM so it was free (no 10$ charge and no park entry fee). You should come to one hahaha. There were about 20 people by the time I finished my first lap. I got my wetsuit on, talked to the organizers about distances and I was off to the races. It was about 61* air and 70* water. I was strong to the first turn, then second turn continued but got off course aiming for a nav. bouy instead of the race ones (red and orange look the same at that low angle). Back on the trail I rounded the next and right into the sun. I tried to swim as straight as I could at 90* from the previous turn but really was swimming blind until I got within 70ft of the floaty. The next one was my next turn and I had caught up to 2 people, one I even hit in the foot and then gave them some room. I dont do alt breathing so if someone is on my left, I cant see them. It was a strong first lap of 1000m 19:18 at 31min pace. I then stopped to wipe out the fog from my goggles for 2 mins and then did another lap.

Lap 2 was not as strong and my arms were tired and cranky the first 300m but then I got some type of second wind or something and powered it home. My arms now are already sore btw this and the lift yesterday. 19:40 Pace=32





wonderland lake big out and back.