Here is the race report I sent out earlier today.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Hey all,

This past weekend I went back to my home state of
Texas to race the Buffalo Springs Lake 70.3 triathlon.
Lubbock, Texas had the pleasure of hosting an all star
pro field with the recent addition of a $25,000 purse.
I received my pro card in April, but this was my first
pro race in a high profile event.

I have raced triathlons for nearly six years now, but
toeing the line with such high caliber athletes was a
new experience. My goal for the swim was to get
on_anybody’s_feet and hang on. We all had a good clean
start and by the first buoy I had settled onto
someone’s feet. The view did not change much for the
next 25 minutes and soon enough the swim was finished.
I set a new PR for that distance so I was certainly
motivated approaching the bike leg.

My transition to the bike was not the smoothest of the
smooth. I needed an extra challenge for the day so I
decided to detroy my sunglasses (by promptly stomping
on them) while stripping my wetsuit. The next hiccup
came at the top of the first climb (the bike course
begins with a steep, short climb) when I had to hop
off and adjust my brake calipers. I must have hit them
in T1, but all was well after that. I just put my head
down (literally, the wind made my eyes water without
sunglasses) and pushed from start to finish. Coach Joe
and I had really worked to get me dialed into
appropriate HIM power on the bike and it showed on
race day. I came off the bike with a 2:19 bike split
(courtesy of Javelin bikes) and was ready to attack
the run.

The run course at BSLT includes several major climbs
and descents that are pieced together with steady flat
sections. I managed to settle into a solid pace to the
halfway point, but the wheels slowly started to fall
off after that. I tried to bring myself back up to
speed, but it looked as though my race mojo had been
spent on the first 63.8 miles of the course. At this
point I just focused on composing myself, limiting my
losses, and getting to that finish line. I crossed the
line in 4:14:20 and 10th overall.

The lowest point of my race occurred in the final few
miles so disappointment clouded my vision of the race
as a whole. I did achieve a number of goals I set for
myself and bested my previous BSLT time by 12 minutes
along the way.

I will be taking a few easy days this week before
starting the process all over again. Boulder Peak and
5430 Long Course are next on the list.

Thanks to EAS, Coach Joe Friel and Ultrafit, Oomph
Triathlon gear, Wheelbuilder.com for providing a super
fast ZIPP 808 wheelset, and Javelin bikes (I have a
new Barolo frame that needs to be built right now so
I’ll see you guys later).

Cheers!

-JD

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I made it out for a night on the town here in Boulder
for the first time ever. I’ve spent nearly four
summers here and have never done so. The next morning
I was swimming and the stamps from the previous night
were still all over me. This situation brought me back
to my early years in triathlon when I was in college.
I can remember riding 100+ miles in the South Texas
heat and asking myself why I felt so flat that day.
I’d see various ‘X’s on my hand/arm and start to
realize why.

As a result I missed BB’s 5430 sprint race on Sunday
morning where he finised fourth overall. He still had
a little pep in his step despite a re_donk_ulous
amount of training volume during the first half of the
week. He’s getting ready for another 8-9 hour day and
I’m just sitting here typing away as I rest for
Buffalo Springs. Rest is a bit boring, but as we say:
“You have to rest some time; might as well be when it
matters.”

And I’m going to need that rest. The start list gets
fancier every day. Lots of fast folks showing up to
the Texas Panandle once a 25,000 dollar purse made its
way there.

So long as I’m resting I’ll be sure to catch Sweden
when they play England today. Be sure to tune in if
you have some free time around 1:00 MST.

-jd

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Its 9:30 in the evening. Its warm. The thermostat in
our living room reads: 90. Nine. Zero. Toasty. I no
longer sleep upstairs. I’ve been crashing on the floor
of the living room next to the screen door to the back
patio. Pretty rockin’.

Perhaps you all have picked up on the fact that I’m
back in Boulder. You would be correct. After nearly
four weeks of living in and out of a hospital and/or
hotel room; I’m back in Boulder. My father returned
with my mother (and Aunt and Uncle) to Crested Butte
late this afternoon. My dad is still weak and
extraordinarily tired (guess that happens when you
miss out on food and sleep for three weeks; imagine
that), but he’s damn happy to be sleeping in his own
bed tonight up in them thar hills.

Anyways, I came home to an invigorated Mr Becker. He’s
now Mr Becker since he knocked out a 3000m/155mi/10K
day of training yesterday. I told him to go ahead and
run a marathon (or at run to NED), but he wimped out.
The dude has stepped it up with the assistance or
Chris and Marilyn. Those two can be very
inspirational. I spent last May recovering from the
month of April when I was training with them in AZ.

As for my own training; its good and its reduced. Joe
and I wanted a midseason peak so we picked Buffalo
Springs because of timing/course/Texas pride. As a
result, I’m resting in between several key weekly
sessions while my buddies are knocking out some
seriously epic sessions. Certainly a test of self
control, but you ‘gotta rest some time.’ Might as well
be when it matters.

peace out,

j

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Since my stay in GJ got extended I decided to race a
local sprint triathlon yesterday (500m/16mi/3.5mi
trail run).

Since this isn’t Boulder, I wasn’t worried about
several dozen uber fit triathletes showing up to a low
key race, but I was still ready to drill it from the
get go.

I was fortunate enough to lead from start to finish
with a winning time of 1:10:xx. This certainly was a
good race for my head after a really disappointing HIM
last weekend. I also generated some PB power data
which backs up some results from training this week.
All of this helps as I get everything sorted out for
Buffalo Springs in two weeks.

As I sit here on Sunday morning, I plan to be in
Boulder Sunday evening. I’ll let you know if I make
it.

Oh yeah, made the front page of the local sports
section. That’s a first.

-jd

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Well, I’m still in the Junction that is Grand. My
father was released from the hospital on Monday, but
unfortunately we ended up right back where we started
around 2:30 in the morning in the ER.

Another procedure followed the next afternoon
(procedure #3 of 3) as well as another night in the
hospital. My father has several follow up appts early
next week. Assuming all is well by then, I’ll be
heading back to Boulder after four weeks out here on
the Western Slope.

But I’m not holding my breathe. Its not that I am
pessimistic, I just don’t care for speculation. Things
are or they aren’t. Just like fitness…

Ok, so where I am going with this…

There has always been a lot of talk on triathlon
forums (specifically on G’s forum which is the only
one I frequent enough to know what’s going on) about
extrapolating race times to guess IM finish times, or
using percentages of FT/LT power/pace to know
appropriate IM riding and running efforts.

Now all of this is fine and dandy, but they are
nothing more than make believe numbers until they come
directly from a race result. Swimming X and riding Y
in order to run Z (which the best IM strategy that I
personally endorse) comes primarily from intuition and
is backed up by the data. An athlete needs to know the
max speed that he/she can hit over and over again
based on how_it_feels.

I guess I get a bit of a kick out of people that think
they can determine their IM run time off a 5K PR.
(don’t get me wrong, I use Daniel’s charts as well for
training).

So you can ride this hard and run that hard in theory?
Great. Prove it. No speculating, just racing.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I’ve been out here in Grand Junction and I think I may
have stumbled upon a fairly ideal training spot for
triathletes. GJ and Fruita certainly have an
established reputation for their extensive mtn biking,
but I don’t know if many folks appreciate this place
as a potential triathlon training ground.

There is plenty of climbing in and around the CO
national monument with steady, steep (but not dumb
steep) grades (and minimal traffic).

Lots of flat options in the farm lands for steady
state riding. Heads way out west to Utah.

Good weather with mild and drier winters. It is warm
in the summer, but the elevation (4600 ft) keeps it
under the century mark for most days in the summer
(and even then its pleasant in the mornings and
evenings)

Tons of trails for running and mtn biking. Flat dirt
road along the canal for steady state running on soft
surface.

Nice track at Lincoln Park.

Smaller population so its easy to get around town and
lots of bike lanes when you are in town.

Low(er) cost of living for Colorado, but growing
daily.

Numerous bike shops.

Local airport with flights to Denver, Phx, SLC, and
(now) LV so its easy to get to some major hubs for
traveling to races.

The swimming is mediocre IMO and is this place’s
biggest (but not actually ‘big’) drawback. In the
summer they have a lovely 50m pool with Masters in the
a.m. (early), but no open swimming with the 50m setup
(switches to SCY). The rest of the year they have
options of a SCM and SCY pool, but they are kept a
little too warm (again, IMO) and lap hours are only
decent at best.

The second drawback would be local triathlon racing.
However, there is a fair amount of racing in Utah (and
the CO front range) to choose from.

Ok, I think the Chamber of Commerce should have to pay
me to continue so I’ll stop there.

-jd

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I missed out on a couple of scheduled races in May so
I decided to race the Deuceman HIM in Show Low, AZ
earlier this week. It was a bit of a last minute
decision, but I thought I could do well there despite
a lack of planning. It was an altitude race: swimming
around 6300 ft, riding between 5500 and 7000 and
running around 6300 ft.

Unfortunately my altitude acclimization had faded
after 2.5 weeks in Grand Junction (4600 ft). I felt it
immediately at the swim start as I blew up like a
champ and was forced to throw in some backstroke every
100 meters to avoid hyperventilating.

The race just sort of declined from there. I felt
quite weak on the bike, but the thin air makes for
fast(er) bike splits no matter what so I was hoping to
at put together a reasonable run split and call it a
day. I ran one good mile off the bike and then began a
nice 12.1 mile jog/walk-aid-stations cool down. It was
frustrating, but it happens. In my case, it happens in
two consecutive races because of two entirely
different reasons. Lessons in humility, I suppose.

I had a race like this last year at Ralph’s where I
limped into the finish line in 4:44 or something. I
finished this one in 4:33 so I made a subtantial
improvement on my ‘blow up’ PR.

I learned more about altitide as a result. Even though
I included training at 5000-7000 while living at 4600
ft, its not enough to show up at the race site 48
hours beforehand. The 24-hour rule would still apply
as my body had gone into ‘acclimization mode.’

On the plus side, my two buddies, Chris and Marilyn,
won the men’s and women’s race and will be taking back
a grand total of 6,000 USD to Boulder. They both
looked really strong out there. They embodied the “I
want to look like him/her” characteristic. Real “Eye
of the Tiger” stuff.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I’m back in my adopted home of GJ again and its look
like there is a good chance that my father will be out
of the hospital on Monday. The fingers are crossed.

jd

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