Over two years ago I was staying in Billings, Montana on my way to Penticton, BC. The motel I was staying in had a notepad that had a title of “Your Thoughts.” Since I had nothing better to do for next 18 hours I decided to keep it and write down my random thoughts while driving across a large chunk of America.

Today I was out on my bike for a few hours and I was thinking about that day and about a blog post that Will Frishkorn wrote a couple years ago that listed his thoughts during a race. The following is what I recall thinking today while riding up and down Lefthand Canyon a couple times.

*Its warmer than I thought it would be; I’m going ride up the canyon

*Its windy in this canyon

*That car passed me awfully close and had a bumper sticker asking me “Am I driving cautiously?”

*I wonder if people consciously drive differently once they have that sticker on their car or after someone calls.

*Does anyone ever call?

*That flag is OUT. Its windy.

*Ok, school bus going over the center line of a blind corner. I’m going to just hang out on the far side of the road for a while.

*Hey there’s Marek.

*I think Marek’s top tube is a bit long.

*I wonder if I could tell him about his Top Tube if I preficed it with “can I offer some constructive criticsim?”

*When someone says that to me I can’t help but initially think “Sure #@!$#@!%*&er. Go ahead.”

*Ok, back up the canyon.

*There’s Marek again.

*I think he and I are the only people in this canyon.

*I should remember that ice patch when I descend back down.

*You know who I have respect for? Cows and horses that live in Gunnison County. I can remember driving to the pool when it 36 degrees below zero and those guys were hanging out, no worries.

*Ok, at the top time to descend. Remember the ice.

*Its kind of cold.

*ice

*Actually its quite cold

*ice

*I’m freezing.

*Sand

*If Gordo wants to complain about the heat in Noosa, he best not do it to me.

*I don’t think I should climb this high again. I can’t feel my fingers.

*Ok, starting to warm up.

*I never beat Marilyn once in the sprint at the bottom of this canyon.

*But she’s not here today.

*Victory.

-jd

Well, last night marked the end of the Texas A&M regular season. I personally think the 6-6 record is good when one considers where the team was last year and how many true freshman started this year. I think Jesse Palmer said something (last night) along the lines of “80% of TAMU production this season (sacks, rushing yards, passing yards, etc.) came from freshman.” I have no idea of the accuracy of that statement, but I get the idea: the team is young.

The low points of the season came against Arkansas, Kansas State, and Oklahoma. TAMU was an absolute disaster in these games (particularly against KSU and OU), but I get that. At least, I understand how someone can have days when they don’t even recognize themselves. I’ve certainly experienced it in my own racing. I’ve toed the line on some days in the past where anyone with a pulse could have kicked my ass. However, I do believe that over time I have consolidated these moments to one or two times a year (Boise 70.3 would take the cake this year). If they could reduce this to 1-2x next year, and less the following year, then I think they are right on track for being the team they want to be. (Especially when the team is lined with Juniors and Seniors that have been playing TOGETHER for 2-3 consecutive seasons).

The middle ground for TAMU was beating Utah State by 8; losing a close game to OSU at home, and losing an OT game to CU on the road. I suppose on paper it would seem that the CU game was the worst, but CU is an interesting ball club. I get to see them play more than any team, since I live in Boulder, and I honestly cannot understand why they have the record that they have (but that’s a whole other story).

The high points of the season came with the other five wins (obviously) and clearly the victory over Texas Tech in Lubbock was the highest of all. It certainly saved Kines and Sherman from a lot of severe scrutiny (they still get plenty). If you had swapped that Tech victory with a loss againt KSU or CU I don’t think folks would be as confident in Sherman and co. He needed one stand-out victory and that was it.

Now its time to wait for bowl selection. It looks like it might be the Texas Bowl versus Navy or the Independence Bowl against Tenn or Georgia. Hopefully they can close out the season with a victory to make 2009 a winning season.

Thanks for the Season TAMU. Keep it rolling in 2010.

jd

I always find it difficult to write about races that really did not go as I would have preferred. I sit around and try to think of writing a race report in a way that doesn’t sound like I’m making excuses, but it never works out. Ultimately I will read my draft and toss it aside. Having said that, I will try to explain the race as I remember it without really trying to read (too much) into why things did not work out.

The Swim: In the 24 hours before the race the east winds had picked up and we had a nice chop/surf on race morning. I prefer nice, flat water as I tend to have a lower swim turnover than some of my other colleagues. I had a less-than-ideal start, but eventually I felt better and started to swim with a nice rhythm. Unfortunately the group I was originally with gapped me when we turned east into the swells on the first loop and I ended up exiting the water about one minute behind them.

The Bike: I felt good for nearly the entire bike (its impossible to feel perfect the whole way, but this is probably as good as it gets for me in the pro race). There were times that were more heated than others, but I never felt weak, bonked, wrecked, etc. It was one of my better rides and after exiting the water in the 16th place, I came off the bike in 6th with 5th only a minute or so ahead of me. I also set a new 180K PR which was 4:32 (fastest of the day was 4:28 which was done by the eventual winner).

The Run: I was optimistic about how the day was going as I set out on the run. I know this run course very well and its easy for me to break it up mentally. I moved into fifth place around the 2nd mile of the run and kept rolling along at a pace of 6:30-35/mile. I set out to hold better than 2:54 marathon pace and everything was working out nicely. I was under the impression that places 1-4 were further up the road, but by mile 4 I had moved into 4th and I could see 3rd place was shortly up the road.

Things were going very well and I remember consciously thinking “be calm.” I just wanted to keep rolling along at my pace as everything seemed to be coming together nicely. I was within 20 seconds of 3rd place when eventual 3rd place finisher, Massimo Cigana, caught me and ran by. No worries. He caught 3rd place quickly and they began to pull away together.

Even though they were pulling away, it was not because I was slowing down. I kept seeing 6:30/mile splits and as their gap grew I felt their was a good chance they would blow each other up. At any rate, I was still on pace to have a great race (for me) regardless of how they performed. However, just as I was reaching the turnaround I started to feel really lousy and by the end of Mile 14 I had gone from running to slowly jogging. I assumed I was experiencing some sort of bonk so I pounded sugar at the next aid station. These episodes are not common for me, but like most athletes, I have bonked while racing.

I kept this up for a couple more aid stations, but then it became clear that this was something more than blood sugar; I was just straight up slowing down. Regardless of having a good day until then, it was clear I was going to have to do everything I could to try and consolidate any spot in the money I was still in. However, soon enough I was pushed out of the top 8 and the last 7-8 miles of the day was really just some personal time as I tried to get to the finish line.

I finished the day in 8:48 and 11th place.

That is basically everything as I remember it. I can speculate about why I slowed down, but I cannot come to any definitive conclusion other than the undisputed one: just wasn’t my day.

2009 has been all over the place for me and I am ready to put all my lessons of this season to use in 2010.

The season starts early next year: Challenge Wanaka (NZ) in January. See you all then,

jd

I will be traveling for the better part of the day to Panama City Beach, Florida. I am racing Ironman Florida on Saturday morning @ 6:45 CST. You can follow live web updates during the race on www.ironman.com.

You can also follow me on twitter (though not actually during the race):

www.twitter.com/justindaerr

See you in fl,

j

37 degrees, rain/snow. That is the current scenario here in Boulder. The last two fall seasons in Boulder were certainly more ideal for training, but I’m not surprised this fall is not. Boulder did not experience its typical summer. Normally BoCO gets a serious warm spell in July and August, but it was temperate this year. I was not complaining at the time, but its led to a cooler-than-usual fall. The average high temperature for Oct is in the 60s, but I bet there have only been 5 days or so that got that warm this month.

Working around the weather has definitely forced some different training ideas to come about. I’m not much for riding the trainer, but I have had little choice in the matter. I have come to embrace the trainer, but I still have a hard time being on it for more than 75-90 minuntes at a time. I’m better off doing multiple sessions in a day or doing bike/run/bike/run/bike/run combos which have been introduced in the last few weeks as well.

At any rate, I am almost within ten days of the race so the weather is beginning to become less relevant. I’m looking forward to getting a little Florida sunshine in 13 days.

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Texas A&M actually beat Texas Tech IN Lubbock last night. Its the first time that has happened since 1993 and its only the second win in the last 11 years regardless of locale. The team bounced back nicely after what seemed to be one of the worst losses in tamu history last week. Its hard to know what team you are going to get in the future weeks.: The team that got absolutely slaughtered in Manhattan, Kansas or the team that got it together in Lubbock last night.

At any rate, it was nice to see them win.

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I never mentioned it, but I went to Chicago two weekends ago to watch the marathon. A friend of mine was racing the event and I made the trip to see him race. The runners had really nice marathon weather; quite cool with no wind. It might have been a little better if it were 5-10 degrees warmer, but overall I think the conditions were rather ideal. The men’s course record was broken by 2 seconds and the winner brought home an additional 100K bonus check for doing so.

I only got to see the elite runners in the first few Ks. I stood below the 4K banner and watched them go through in 11:38; averaging just under 2:55/K. Not too shabby.

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The next couple weeks will be the normal routine as I wrap the finishing touches for IMFL. I travel there 72 hours before the race (Wednesday) and will follow up the race with trip to Jackson, Mississippi to have dinner with the local triathlon club there. We’ll be discussing a wide range of topics related to triathlon as well as having an extensive Q+A that can last as long as the folks wish it to. If you live in Jackson and are interested in attending then drop me a note through the contact tab at the top of the page.

cheers,

j

In the spirit of constant travel, I’m off to Chicago early this afternoon. I will not be able to follow Kona online all day long which is a bit disappointing, but I’m glad to be able to leave 17 degrees and snow for 40 degrees and wind.

My friend is racing the Chicago Marathon tomorrow morning and I am going along to make sure he gets out everything he put into this event. I should be able to get a nice perspective of the city riding a mtn bike around the course on Sunday. Then its back to Boulder early on Monday to get in my final few weeks of training before Ironman Florida. Hopefully the snow will be gone when I get back, but I’ve already adjusted to completing more and more training indoors.

Good luck to everyone racing today. I wish I was with you; next year I will be.

cheers,

j

I have entered Ironman Florida and will be racing again in five weeks time. I was not expecting to be racing this late in the season, but some early season hiccups have made me decide to continue to race before 2009 comes to an end. I have raced IMFL four times (2003,05,06,07) so it feels like a hometown race for me in some respects. I look forward to returning there one more time.

j