Memphis In May in Tunica in the Rain

This past weekend I headed down to Tunica Mississippi to race a triathlon called Mempis in May Triathlon. The triathlon was formally in Memphis Tennessee where the name was more fitting. On Friday I made my way down to Cincinatti where I met up with a fellow triathlete and team IE member, Enrick. I arrived a little early and spent an hour or so hanging out in a small art district right outside of the city. I grabbed a coffee and checked out a store that sold products made from hemp. I didnt quite fit in with the crowd there so I made my way down to a local running store where I talked shop with the boys for a bit before heading over to meet Enrick. We loaded up the bikes and gear and made a quick stop at a small resteraunt that had some awesome pasta. We were Tunica bound.
After all the stops, we arrived in Tunica at our Hotel at around 3:00 a.m. We were staying in the same room as coach and his wife so we snuck in as silently as possible. We were like freakin triathlete ninjas.
The next day, Enrick and I slept in a bit and rolled out of bed around 10. He and I both needed a few things for our bikes so we made our way down to the expo to find a bike shop booth and to pick up our packets. We then met up with Coach Greg as well as Kyle and Kaleb, two of team IE's pros. We did a ride run swim all while checking out the course. This day was HOT and nothing like what I had been experiencing here in Michigan. I was hoping that the race the next day would be early enough to where we wouldnt have such hot weather. I dont mind racing in the heat but I would have no time to get ready for a hot weather race. I was used to training in rainy 50 degree weather.
After the course preview and a short nap we headed out to grab an early pre race dinner. We were staying on a huge resort that had two casinos a few hotels and quite a few eateries. Unfortunatley due to all of the flooding that the area had experienced the majority of the places to eat were closed. We had to find a town about 20 minutes from where we were staying and ended up at an olive garden. I got some great tasting pasta! (Judging by our fellow Olive Gardeners, Tunica is definitly not on the top of of the list for healthiest cities). We made or way back to the hotel and the rest of the night was spent relaxing in the hotel room and falling asleep by 8:30. Tomorrow was race day....

Race Day

Pre Rece- We all rolled out of bed at 4:30 and proceeded to make some much needed coffee. I was tired but feeling good about racing. I got some breakfast in, checked the bike, grabbed my bag and made my way down to transition. The lake where we swam and transition area was right outside of the hotel. This made for a no hassel, easy bike set up. I found my bike rack, put my stuff down and went out for an easy spin to make sure everything on the bike was ready to go. I got back, put the helmet on the areo bars and some running shoes on the other side. I was ready to go.

Swim- The swim was a time trial start that sent people off individually every 5 seconds. I was number 809 so I knew it was going to be a long time from the end of my swim warm up to my actual start. I tried to keep my arms moving but found myself just doing a lot of standing and watching. 20 minutes later I finally found myself lined up and ready to start swimming. "Number 809?" Yep thats me. " Ok 3..2....1... go". I ran down 10 feet and dove into the water. My goggles slipped off! Not a good way to start the swim. I did a super quick goggle adjustment and tried to find some feet in front of me. I quickly learned that this was a mistake. Because this was a time trial start there were some more "Experienced" age groups to start before me. Therefore the feet I was so anxiusly looking for were probably the feet of some 65-70 year old. I get enough of that selling shoes at New Balance. There was a lot of bumping into slow swimmers and trying to find my way around people. I finally exited the water only to look at my watch and see I was about 4 minutes back from what i wanted to do. I said some 4 letter words in my head and ran to my bike, threw on my helmet and had a super fast transition.
Bike- I hopped on the bike and I was off. I kept telling myself "Ok you had a bad swim but its hammer time now". My legs werent listening. Actually it felt like they were arguing with me. Id imagine they were saying something like "WTF are you doing, its windy and raining Im not going to pump out any watts. This is Bull Shit." My legs felt flat but I seemed to be going pretty fast and running through people in front of me. At about mile 18 I starting feeling really good and went in hammer mode. I rode through the last 6 miles pretty fast. I ended up at a little over 1:02, which I was pretty happy about. I hopped off my bike and ran into a muddy transition. I ran over to one side with my bike only to realize my bike spot was on the other side. This cost me about 20 seconds but I threw my run shoes on and was ready to run.
Run- After the hard bike my legs started off a little flat but i was ready to go. It started getting hot but I flipped through the first mile at about 5:45. I was just about right on pace. This is where the time trial start was nice. There were a lot of people to pick off on the run. It definitly kept me going. Mile 2 seemed to be on pace as well. The course was out and back so I knew at mile 3 I was going to turn around. After mile 2 I kept waiting for mile 3. 6 minutes went by and I couldnt even see mile 3. Shit I know I didnt slow down that much. 7 minutes went by and i was like ok wtf is going on. Finally after about 8 minutes I saw the turnaround. After that my run basically fell apart. I dropped down to about 6:15 pace for the last 2.5 miles. I picked it up a little for the last half mile but not enough to have the run that I wanted. I crossed the finish line, knowing my time and feeling a little disappointed. I got a fist bump from Kaleb and went over to down a water and a powerade. I later found out that the run was 6.8 miles and not 6.2 so I felt a lot better about my run time.

After the race was over I went to get out of the pouring rain and in the hotel to take a shower. I wanted to be quick so i could watch the start of the pro race. I was in and out and back down but they had to delay the pro race for about an hour due to some lightning. So I met up with Enrick and we grabbed a coffee and some southern BBQ out of the food tent. Before long the pros took off and we had another 20 minutes to hang out before they fot out of the water. I missed Kyle but saw Kaleb get out and FLY through transition. Now we had some more time to kill so we got all of our stuff and l oaded it up into the car. This took way longer than expected and we missed Kyle and Kaleb into t2 so we hung out and wated for the finish. The pros started alphabetically so I know Kaleb was going to have a great race but still wouldnt come in 1st because his last name was Vanort and he started the swim almost dead last. We stood at the finish waiting for the pros to come in. There were not many of us due to the less than ideal conditions. Finally they announced that the first pro was on his way. It was Cameron Dye and he ended up crossing the finish line first. About 10 seconds behind him was Kris Gemmell. I figured that Kris was probably the winner because of the alphabetical start. A few more pros came in and then Kaleb from team IE came in. I knew he had to have done very well because he started last and finished not far from the first pros. Kaleb had a great race and ended up 5th in a crazy competitive field. The other pro on the team, Kyle finished just outsude of top 10 in his first race as a professional!
Just a heads up, when doing a triathlon, just plan on the awards ceremony being about an hour or so after the scheduled time. That being said Team IE grabbed a table and stuck around for the ceremony. the pros were first and we got to see Kaleb in the top 10. Next was the amateur challenge (The sprint and olympic race combined). Lisa from Team IE was the overall winner!! Oh and shorty after that was the masters award in which Coach Greg was the winner!! Team IE roacked Memphis. I didnt have the race I wanted but i did get into 3rd in my AG and got awarded and qualified for HY-VEE triathlon in septemer in Des Moines, Iowa. This made my sub par race a little bit better.....
We wrapped things up, said out good byes and hit the road. We were making good time and decided to stop in Nashville for a quick bite to eat. We landed at the waffle house, went in, sat down and tried to order only to find out that they were out of fucking waffles. Wait, this is the waffle house right? We ended up ordering some chicken sandwiches and other random stuff and hopped back on the road. We got in to Cinci at about 1 a.m. so i decided to crash there for the night and make my way back to MI in the morning. I got a short night sleep and took off at 5 a.m., Michigan bound. It was raining like crazy in Cincinnati that morning and I got mixed up on an onramp i was supposed to take. I had no gas, no coffee and I had to pee. It was super stressfull. I finally got back on track, found a gas station, pissed and got some coffee. I made my way to Indy and through the flat boring state that is known as Indiana. I crossed the Michigan border and cruised the rest of the way to Grand Rapids. I was home. Without unloading any of my shit, I went ,took a shower and hit the bed for a 2 hour nap. It felt soo good.
Although my race was not what i had hoped for I got to tavel to state I had never been to, enjoy some great company and ultimatly do something that I love, which is race triathlon. Over all it was a great experience and I cant wait for the next one. Thanks to everyone who has made this possible and just remember that every loss is temporary but every victory is eternal...


My next reace will be the grand rapids sprint triathlon. It will be a bit different because there is no traveling involved. I am training for a better race and hope to go fast!

Tenative 2011 Schedule

A much needed easy week is finally here. My first race is one week from today and I'm just now trying to finalize my 2011 schedule. Well Here it is (Not in its entirety and this subject is definitely subject to change)


May 22- Mmephis in May 5150 series- Tunica, MS
June 5- Grand Rapids Triathlon (First Annual)
June 18- Lake Macatawa Duathlon- Holland, MI
July 10-Grand Haven Triathlon OR......
July 11- LifeTime Fitness Minneapolis, MN
July 17. Ironman 70.3 Racine, WI
Aug. 14- Whirlpool Steelhead 70.3
Sept 4. Hy-Vee (Qualification Pending) 5150 series)- Des Moines, IA
Sept 10-Reeds Lake Triathlon OR.....
Sept.11 70.3 World Championship (Qualification Pending) Las Vegas, NV

Lots Training, No Blogging.

Without Racing, I have had a lack of any Ideas of what to blog about. With the racing season started and fast approaching for me (First Race Mayy 22. Memphis in May) I will start blogging and as per my blog, keep everyone up to date with my training and racing!! My Training has been going very well. In January I joined Team IE (Innovative Endurance) and am now coached by Greg Mueller.

Stay Tuned!