Back but weary

OK, kona to Honolulu to LA to Atlanta to Miami- don't try this at home. got in @ 10:30PM after 25 hours of travel and sore throats and crying babies. i never want to see an overhead bin or tray table again. did you know you have to bring your seats to an upright position beofre take off and landing. i have a sore thorat and couldn't even get in bad with the wife and baby due to the cold after not seeing them for 10 days. LOVELY!
all is well though and the world is still spinning. Petr is back home healing wounds from a 30mph crash on race day. guy still ran a 3:10 with serious road rash. jeeeez. the dynamic duo are in Oz getting ready for Long COurse World Champs, Bjorn is in Nevada getting ready for the Silverman challenge. and me, c'mon i never stop training. got a half mary coming up in december.
well off to do a bike fit and then voice over work for the Coca Cola TV show then to bed! i'm bushed!!!!

The Real Stories about IM Hawaii

Working for the Pro athletes here and having media credentials allows me to see and hear first hand some real interesting stories. for instance: Faris didn't get his aerobars till 10pm the night before the race check in. as i got the ride on the media truck i also know who stayed out of the draft zone on the bike and who didn't. no names here but let's just say that some of the top placing pros were very close together. i also know about some of the top females who will be switching to other sponsors next year. HHMMMMM I f i see any of you then ask me about details to these stories and more.

all over

i thought i could post more but we had poor connections in our condo and there was always tons of work and running around going on. we had a great time and all is all an OK day. i tell you that Lisbeth was on fire and after looking back we know what she needs to do here to be a champion. it all stated with the swim and typically she can swim with michellie but had a tough time with choosing position and sightint. ITEM 1 to work on. the bike rocked. she made up 5:30 and had the 2nd fastest of the day. we are getting her a new bike and a new fit which Lisbeth needs bad. with that she will be first off the bike no doubt. Lisbeths run has been lacking miles but she is ready to put in more miles and the thing that REALLY was tough was that the special needs bags for the run were at miles 18 and not at halfway so she could not get her 2nd camelbak which she needs AS SHE LOSES A KILO OF FLUIDS per 30-40:00. so that was the end after not getting those fluids. she will rock the Long Course World Champs in Oz in 3 weeks and then IM Western Oz 2 weeks after that. watch for her. AJ had a good time here of 8:47 for his first Kona and feels he can do better next year. it will be a tough balance as he goes for his third bid for Beijing in 2008 and for Kona. more later.

Twas the night before....

the athletes are now asleep as I write this and all the bags are packed up, the bikes checked in, the fluids in the freezer. I cooked up some Parmesan cheese risotto tonight with baked tuna steak. The theme for the day is LOW FIBER. Aj had issues with fiber at IMOZ so we called up some nutrition docs down under and got the low down on fiber. No fruits or veggies or bread, cereal or oats. Just complex low fiber carbies! After dinner three of the duo's friends from Oz came over and I could barely understand them as the accents were so thick. Good guys though and we'll hook up tomorrow to watch the race. More race day coveragetomorrow! Check back often!
It is actually drizzling now and is only 11 hours left till showtime!

Kona Pt. 1

it is now friday before the race and i have been here 3 days. i was hired by IM Brasil champion Lisbeth Kristensen and her boy friend Andrew Johns (AJ) to help them with support for the race. The duo are awesome people and very polite and gracious. AJ is a two time Olympic triathlete and placed 5ht at IM Austrilia this year. I am also working with 2006 IM Malaysia Winner Petr Vabrousek as I am his manager. My tasks here are:

• Meet with exisiting and potential sponsors
• Massage and stretch the three atheltes
• Cook
• Bike mechanic
• all around gopher

PICTURES HERE: http://www1.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=56294207/a=17584559_17584559/t_=17584559

I like this kind of stuff so it is fun work. I went out on AJ and Lisbeths last tough ride and DAMN they are goos especially Lisbeth. The last 30:00 of the ride was supposed to be at 300-330 watts and I blew a tire after a few minutes (there will be lots of that in the race as there are sharp stones littering the road from the earthquake). AJ told me she rode for 30:00 at 44K per hour and was just on fire. Lisbeth is a seriously good cyclist and stronger then some Pro guys so watch for her up front. I've also swam with them twice and that is loads of fun as they are great to draft off of. I have hung out with many Elite pre race and many of them are stressed out fanatics but these two are super calm and collected. Today is cloudy and calm winds but the Hawaiian Wind Gods typically strike viloently on race day!So look for them on race day!

oh boy that really blew

bottom line is that the athlete should know the course. i didn't know the whole course obviously and on the second loop of the bike i realized i left off about a mile on the first loop so i had to DQ myslef. to be honest, no one probably might have known but i would have known and i can't cheat to do well. it was a tough swim with high winds in the 30 knot range creating a turbulent water and with my lack of meters in the water recently i suffered, oh yeah but the suffering was fun and good and after a quick transition i was in the top 12. the bike rocked, i felt real good, that is until i realized i went off course. oh well look at me now, sitting in the Atlanta airport kicking it with CNN and a 10 hour flight to Kona. just great. bad food and a lot of the most unhealthy people i hav ever seen. TREADMILLS EVERYONE, they're made for a reason. anyone that reads this and mentions the password: blog to me will get 10% off any of 2007 multisport camps. 2007 will rock.

Jamaican Blue Mountain

that is what i am drinking this morning as i am groggy and tired. tomorrow is the escape to miami, which i am racing and looking forward to. i have never trained so little and in frequently in ly entire tri career but i will go out and do what i can. it is really odd to think how little i swim now and how much i used to. for IM in 2005 i was swimming 10-15,000 yards a week. now i am lucky to put in 3000. oh well. the season is wrapping up and unfortunaltey many athletes are putting the traning on hold, which is a good thing so that they get a much needed break.
i read to day that a navy SEAL in Iraq jumped on a grenade to save his team. he unfortunatley died but what a hero. those uys and gals over there have to deal with such shit tp protect us. man what a tough gig. i often hope that this whole thing will end cause it is getting ridiculuous how many american lives are being lost. fatherhood changes your perspective on things doesn't it.
more on the race later and then Kona bound on monday!!!!

A vote for the Senator

OK so I've raced bikes, tri's and done pretty tough rides around this great country of mine and little does surprise me but this was. Senator John Kerry, 62, of Massachussetts gets my vote. The dude can ride. I train some guys in that age group who ride 200-300 miles per week and the Senator said he is lucky to ride 2x a week. He took right off from the go, hammered up or 5-6% bridge we got here and had some good pulls. He was really into the PowerTap we set up for him and into the watts. After an hour with him and some other spulling I went to the front and started a 6:00 interval @ 260-280 watts. He was right there. he then proceeded to hammer out of the saddle up the bridge and on the way back down, rode no hands while drinking. A stud! I told him, "If the politics career doesn't pan out for you then yo ucan always race bikes." A nice guy, good rider and to hell with politics! Next stop Kona- T minus 6 days!

A vote for the Senator

OK so I've raced bikes, tri's and done pretty tough rides around this great country of mine and little does surprise me but this was. Senator John Kerry, 62, of Massachussetts gets my vote. The dude can ride. I train some guys in that age group who ride 200-300 miles per week and the Senator said he is lucky to ride 2x a week. He took right off from the go, hammered up or 5-6% bridge we got here and had some good pulls. He was really into the PowerTap we set up for him and into the watts. After an hour with him and some other spulling I went to the front and started a 6:00 interval @ 260-280 watts. He was right there. he then proceeded to hammer out of the saddle up the bridge and on the way back down, rode no hands while drinking. A stud! I told him, "If the politics career doesn't pan out for you then yo ucan always race bikes." A nice guy, good rider and to hell with politics! Next stop Kona- T minus 6 days!

A vote for the Senator

OK so I've raced bikes, tri's and done pretty tough rides around this great country of mine and little does surprise me but this was. Senator John Kerry, 62, of Massachussetts gets my vote. The dude can ride. I train some guys in that age group who ride 200-300 miles per week and the Senator said he is lucky to ride 2x a week. He took right off from the go, hammered up or 5-6% bridge we got here and had some good pulls. He was really into the PowerTap we set up for him and into the watts. After an hour with him and some other spulling I went to the front and started a 6:00 interval @ 260-280 watts. He was right there. he then proceeded to hammer out of the saddle up the bridge and on the way back down, rode no hands while drinking. A stud! I told him, "If the politics career doesn't pan out for you then yo ucan always race bikes." A nice guy, good rider and to hell with politics! Next stop Kona- T minus 6 days!

A Senator and a tri coach.....

i am about to go out today and ride with Senator Kerry. that is the plan anyway. i am not a political guy but i am interested in meeting this man and listening to his ideas. a great client of mine is friendly with him and as the senator is an avid cyclist he tho9ught i would want to go ride with him. well, i'll write back and let you know how it goes. i am enjying a nice cup of columbian brew right now compliments of athlete Ivan Sierra, it's smooth and tastes bold so it is a good brew for this morning. i am working on some big things for 2007 so stay tuned. kaia blu is great and laughing so much. thanks for checking in.

more miles

i actually swam today, which is the first time in ten days. my swimming has been totally off the back all year. not more then 6000 on average during the week. by comparison during the IM training in 2005 i was doing 18,000 meters per week and in 2002 i was doing 20,000+ per week. one day i'll get the desire back. the good news is that in the last 72 hours i rode approx. 125 miles total. YEAH! running is feeling good and Pearl Izumi hooked me up with a new sample of there one piece racing suit coming out next year so i'll show that off at the Escape race. tomorrow is another tough day of work and training and balancing by baby duty with it all. BTW- a new bike might be coming for us----stay tuned!!!!!!

i'm pretty wrecked today. i got off a red eye from the show on saturday morning and the show was sooooo much welking around and time on your feet that i was just shelled saturday. i spent the day with erinne and the baby in vero at erinne's moms house. it was nice to be away by the beach and witht he girls. then i trained hard with eddie and lotte on sunday in vero. solid 2.25 hour ride with intervals. then a little run after but the weird thing is that my HR was 15-20 beats higher then normal. probably due to the stress and lack of sleep from the flight and 3 days off of training at the show. now it's time to upload the photos to the site and get back to work. anyone out there?