IM 70.3 Galveston Race Report - To DNF or Not to DNF...

Pre-race: The Galveston course on paper looks pretty easy (for a 70.3 distance race) but there is one factor that can make or break the race – the WIND. I knew this coming in so I was watching the conditions throughout the week. There first day we arrived and road on course the wind was pretty mild the next day it was insane. Luckily, on race day the wind was a little more in the mild side and temps were pleasant so all was good (or so I thought). I was feeling great and ready to race – I had felt fresh all week which I think was due to a change in how we are tapering me into 70.3 races this season with a little more “easing into” taper week vice a huge drop off. In terms of logistics this race is pretty fantastic if you stay at Moody Gardens – everything is right there and easily accessible which means I’ll probably be down to do this race again next season with the little one. I met up with fellow Wattie Ron Schmidt the day before the race for a run course pre-review and everything was in good working order. Looking forward to meeting the rest of the Wattie squad throughout the season. Major props to Moxie Multisport crew out of Austin for letting me borrow a race kit – these guys and gals were frickin awesome and rocking it out with a lot of energy on the run course.

Race Strategy: My fitness was in really good shape based upon a good showing at an Olympic distance a few weeks ago so the goal here was to race FTW. This was the first flat 70.3 course I have raced on in a long long time so not a lot to plan for other than potential windy conditions on the bike and constant pedaling/effort. I’ve been on the trainer almost exclusively all winter so I wasn’t really worried about the constant pedaling with no breaks – oh little did I know what was lurking ahead. My swim is still way behind where it needs to be but improving slowly but surely. Given this, we decided to use the swim as a warm-up (not going anaerobic) to a very strong bike effort and then try to close the deal on the run. Played out different scenarios depending on the wind direction but basically try and use the power I can push on the bike to my advantage to close the gap to the guys off the front out of the water and then put in a sub-1:20 run. I’ve gone away from racing strictly by watts but we decided that it was a good idea for me to ride my target 70.3 watts (330-40w) for this race given the unpredictable wind and flat course.  Same race morning set up as always, woke up 3 hours early to eat, relax a bit, set up transition and then off to swim start.

Swim: Target: 27-28:00 Actual time: 31:06. Garmin had the course at 2.15km.

Conditions: Water temp was a bit chilly at 65F and looked to be a bit of current and light chop in the water as well (thank god we were swimming in a protected inlet and not the Gulf).

My Helix wasn’t in yet but Ryan from BlueSeventy was kind enough to loan me a Reaction which worked nicely. 2 very large M30-34 waves of which I was the second (hate this set up). Pretty much the same as every other 70.3 swim – lots of contact and muscling around for about 200-400M and then things settled down a bit and I was able to get into a rhythm. Just picked a steady pace and kept with it reminding myself to focus on form and a strong pull. The first leg felt like we were swimming into the current. We made the turn and things broke up considerably and I was able to get clean water and a good line as we started swimming up on the first M30-34 wave. I was pretty much swimming by myself at this point which kind of sucked and never found any feet the entire race. The course started to seem very long and the orange buoys felt like they were never going to end, finally hit the second red turn buoy and into the Colonel’s paddle boat. A little disappointed with a 31:06 on the watch but the swim felt long and I wasn’t gassed so all was good. No clue how far back I am off the front but time to put in some work on the bike.

T1: Nothing fancy here – get the HR down, wetsuit off and onto the Scott Plasma to put in some work.

Bike: Target: 2:10-15  Actual Time: 2:28:54

Conditions: 70F, humid, partly cloudy and headwind in both directions

I got a chance to ride the course ahead of time in mild and super windy conditions so had a good idea of what to expect in either scenario. I felt great coming out of T2 so it was on like donkey kong – time to close the gap to the front. There was a slight headwind on the way out but nothing too crazy and was able to comfortably ride my watts around 330w and average 25-26MPH. I was making up a lot of time quickly by the turn. Got a look at Wil Emery and Reilly Smith and figured I was maybe 4min back so everything was going as planned. Followed my nutrition plan spot on, energy was steady and constant, HR and breathing wasn’t controlled. I was executing the race plan to perfection. Made the turn and the tailwind I thought I was going to have turned into a stronger headwind than we had on the way out but no worries. I was feeling amazing and just stuck to the plan – ride watts and take in nutrition on my intervals. I was on target for a 2:08-10 bike split which would have put me right in the mix FTW. Around mile 35 my glutes started to get a little tight so got out of the saddle every few minutes to stretch but no fatigue or drift. What I wasn’t expecting was a complete lock up of my glutes and excruciating pain at mile 45. I almost crashed but was able to pull over and somehow clip out. It was all I could muster to get my leg over the top tube. At this point the pain was so intense I was dead set on a DNF – I physically could not get back on the bike. I slowly watched everyone I had just passed and put 5-10min into pass me on the side of the road in agony. NOT A FUN EXPERIENCE. All I could think about was how embarrassed I was going to be having to DNF my first race of the season. Finally the race support vehicle comes by and doesn’t stop. WTF!! Now, I’m left with 2 options – hitch hike a ride back to T2 or wait until the pain subsides and try to ride the 10 miles back to transition. After about 15min the pain started to subside slightly and I was able to get back on the bike and ride easy out of the saddle back to T2.  The glutes loosened up a bit on the ride back so now I had to make a decision – DNF or try and run myself back into the race. My garmin had me still able to go 4:15-20 if I ran well so I said screw let’s see how it goes and try to get back in the race (little did I know my garmin stopped for a while when I stopped on the side of the road and was off by 8minutes).

T2: My legs felt okay but a little tight/sore so gathered myself for what I knew would be a mentally taxing run and off I went.

Run: Target 1:16   Actual Time: 1:22:53

My original run goal was to come out of T2 at a 6:00/mile pace and work into a 5:40-50 pace within the first 1.5 miles then hold atleast 5:50 pace throughout with a kick at the end. I knew from training and racing over the past few months that 5:40 was do-able if I was feeling great but I was far from great after what just happened on the bike so the revised goal was to run at a moderate pace that would allow me to not blow apart but still move back up through the field (I was still working on the presumption of a 4:15-20 finish time at this point). I came out a little fast at 5:38 pace for the first few miles then eased back and ran comfortably the remainder of the race. The Moxie Multisport crew was providing some awesome run course support and pumping up all the racers - they brought me back from the dead on each loop. Kellen's "W" speedo was an absolute trip!! Texas is a 3 loop run which is kind of nice but also has a ton of sharp turns which slows the run speed considerably – makes it hard to settle into a good steady tempo. With 2500 participants on a 3 loop course I was really surprised how spread out everyone was. The RD and volunteers did a great job at spacing aid stations so they weren’t overly crowded and at no point did I ever feel packed in on the run course. The first 2 laps went relatively well and by the 3^rd lap I wasn’t feeling all that great but was able to hold it together and finish just under 4:20 but…. WAIT FOR IT, WAIT FOR IT. My actual time was 4:27:53 – somehow my watched had stopped when I got off my bike and I didn’t realize it.

So, after a scary episode on the bike and a 60min trip to the med tent for an IV post-race I was pretty bummed to learn my time was much slower than expected. On the bright side, I was happy to finish and get the 70.3 fitness in despite the day’s setbacks. Not exactly what I set out to do on the day but sometimes things just don’t play out as planned and you have re-group and move onto the next race. Still not sure whether the smarter option would have been to DNF on the bike but my competitive drive probably got the best of me here. On to the next one… 4 weeks until St. Croix and a shot at Kona….

 

Wildman Olympic Distance Race Report - Cleaning Out the Cobwebs...

Bottom Line Up Front:

Overall Time: 1:53:38           Place: 3^rd overall

Wildman was a late add to piggy back off a training camp and vacation in Florida with my family. All in all a super productive trip and enjoyable trip. The weather was pretty fantastic, makes me want to move down to FL to take advantage  of year round training outdoors. It was a vivid reminder of how much I hate cold weather. The past 5 months have been solely focused on getting me ready for a season of 70.3 distance racing so all of my pacing is set up to optimize my performance distance right now. This was a lesson from last season where we tried to balance Olympic and 70.3 racing and it just wasn’t a good formula for me and it became clear I’m much more competitive at the 70.3 distance mainly due to my sub-par swimming ability. Due to this I knew I probably wasn’t going to be able to go as fast as I would like or am capable at the Olympic distance. Or as my coach said after the race: “my internal Governor is set for 70.3 distance racing” – good for 70.3 racing, bad for Olympic distance racing. .  Mentally, I did not approach this race as serious as I typically do which probably carried over a bit into my performance but also meant I was pretty darn relaxed. So, the focus for this race was to get in a good hard effort and work out any kinks prior to IM 70.3 Galveston in 4 weeks.  Mission completed and success

Pre-race: Went out to the race site 2 days in advance and drove the course with Kristin and sleeping baby Colt. The bike course was pretty much pancake flat but Kristin pointed out there were a lot of turns and sand at the corners – note taken – course probably won’t be as fast as it looks. Met up with fellow Wattie Inkers Steve Houston and Adam Furlong race morning and chatted it up a bit – the prevailing topic seemed to be the cool weather and freezing cold water. Steve helped me out big time with a borrowed Blueseventy Helix which was essential due to the 63F water temp.  Chit chatted a bit, transition set-up (I used fellow Wattie Dusty Nabor’s transition motto of simple simple simple) and off to swim start. Race time temp was ~52F.

Swim: 1500M, 2 loop course. I was reluctant to do a pre-race swim due to the cold temp at 63F but  learned from last season that whenever possible I really need to loosen up prior to swim start. Decided to forgo the pre-race swim (error #1).  Zipped up the Blueseventy Helix and we were underway. First time in the Blueseventy Helix and have to say I was really impressed with the performanceof this wetsuit – amazing wetsuit and super pumped to have them as a team sponsor!!! Can wait to zip up the custom Wattie Ink Elite Team version arriving in a few weeks. Ankle deep mass start for the men. Gun went off and the front group was a bit of a tangled mess and I got kicked back to pack 2 and lost the front pack. I immediately realized how cold the water was and tried to hold off the panic attack flashback from my hypothermia event at Knoxville 2 years ago when I had to be pulled from the water. Eventually settled into an awkward stiff/cold pace for the first loop. Finally settled into a faster pace for lap 2 and bridged back up to some feet (which ended up being the race winner) and starting passing a few people until swim exit but totally lost track of the rest of the field. I actually thought we were swimming out front since I didn’t see any more swim caps ahead but I was very very wrong. Overall, swim wasn’t too bad, could have definitely swam faster had I and the water been warmer.  Still not too horrible and a 45 second improvement from race #1 last season on a slower course. Way too much time lost to the front group though which came back to bite me later. Swim times have come down but need to continue to drop throughout the season. More steady progress to be made in the pool over the coming months. Swim time on my watch was 23:24.

T1: Long run to transition w/ frozen extremities. I decided to wear socks on the bike since it was a bit cool out. Took me forever to get socks on my frozen feet with my frozen hands – took waaaaaay too long in T1 (error #2). Race winner, Billy Edwards, smoked me in transition. Very simple, transition times need to improve be better. This is the second race in a row where I’ve essentially given up a possible win in transition – not good.

Bike: Bike course was a flat 2 loop course with a lot of turns (think I counted 20 total). Hopped on the new Scott Plasma and rolled hot out of T1 hoping to bridge the gap to the front group. This was my first race on the Scott Plasma and was really impressed with performance and comfort – not the best course for a TT bike but can’t wait to get this speed machine on the 70.3 circuit and open it up a bit. Had no clue how far back I was from the front (ended up being 2:30-3:30min) but knew I needed to get on the crank to make up some time. Got my first look at the front group with “no shirt guy” in front, Steve Houston in second and Adam Furlong in 3^rd and was about 2min back. I thought I was going to be able to make this up on the second loop but was struggling to push the pace due to all the stop and go on turns and cold weather – I purposely try to stay away from cold weather races since I never seem to race well in the cold. This was only my 3^rd ride outside in the past 3 months so was reluctant to corner hard (error #3). Also calibrated my powermeter incorrectly while the bike was on the rack in T1 which totally screwed up my power readings (error #4). Just rode as hard as I could to try and bridge the gap and cut the time before the run. Lap 2 put me at about 60-90 seconds off the front. As I rolled into T2 I could see Steve leaving so knew I was about 60-90 seconds back. Ride time off my garmin 500 had me at 55:12, race clock said 56:11 – go figure. Either way, a lot slower than I had expected end up being around 25MPH avg vs 26-27MPH avg I had seen in training for race pace efforts.

T2: Got my shoes on very quickly and intended to make this as quick as possible but ended up running the wrong way out of T2 and had to turn around and had to go back out the other direction (error #5).   



Trying to catch Steve in 2nd



Run: Flat, curvy run course on sand. I wasn’t really a fan of this run course since I couldn’t see very far ahead due to all the turns and the traction was pretty loose in most parts. I was in 5^th to start the run and bridged up to Adam in 4th pretty quickly. He advised that I was about 2min back so a lot of work to do here. I was battling some abdominal cramps and a tight right hamstring over the first 1.5 miles so had to hold back a bit from the 5:20-30 pace I was expecting to run. Settled into a 5:45-50 pace (which just happens to be my 70.3 pace) and got stuck there – not sure if this was mental, physical or both but certainly not what I was expecting. Flew by “no shirt guy” at the turn which put me in 3^rd and a lot of work to do in short order to bridge up to the front. My legs just didn’t have their normal 10k turnover so had to stick with my 70.3 run pacing. About halfway through the second loop I could start to see Steve up ahead but then lost sight again through the turns, made my decision to turn on the gas way too late (error #6) due to the shorter run course and ended up finishing in 3^rd overall about 15 seconds back of Steve in 2^nd and a touch over 1min back of 1^st. Always a great sight coming up to the finish line to see Kristin and Colt waving and cheering. Came in at 30:54 (race clock) on a 5.3-6ish mile course so still not bad effort but pretty disappointed in my run today. The one positive is that I felt as though I could hold the 5:45-50 pace all day so a very good sign going into IM 70.3 Galveston in 4 weeks.



Wattie crew sweeping up 2nd and 3rd overall



Great kickoff to the 2013 season with a shout out and thanks to my #1 fan Kristin (wife),  coach Torsten Abel, Wattie Ink Elite Team and sponsors: Blueseventy, K-Swiss, Speedfil, ISM (thanks Dave Bunce for the new saddle choice – the breakaway is amazing), Scott Bikes, Fuelbelt, 454 tattoo, Reynolds Cycling, Kask Helmets and Powerbar. 



NEXT UP - IM 70.3 GALVESTION APRIL 7, 2013

K-Swiss Shoe Reviews - Kwicky Blade Light vs Blade Light Run II

Runner Background:
Height: 6'0"
Weight: 158-60lbs
Biomechanics: Mid-foot stiker, moderate cadence, slight supination (outside strike), neutral shoe
Foot type: mod-high arch and narrow foot.
Runs completed:  Treadmill and road. Speed work at 5:00 pace and below, easy and moderate paced long runs up to 17.5 miles, hill work, moderate paced running at 6:30 pace, easy runs at 7:30 pace.

Shoe Fit

Kwicky Blade Light (neutral): The kwicky is a very comfortable shoe that "hugs" the foot nicely. Incorporates seem free technology so can be worn sockless if that is a preference. Very comfortable and "broken in" right out of the box. The shoe is made with breathable material including drainage holes in the bottom and water repellant material. There is a noticeable drop from heel to toe (I believe 12mm). Toe box is pretty tight and hugs the foot - my toes feel a bit jammed in these shoes but I size down a 1/2 size and like my shoes very snug.

Blade light run II: Comortable foot bed and plenty of cushion around the heel of the shoe. Incorporates seem free technology so can be worn sockless if that is a preference. Very comfortable upon initial fitting but requires a break in period for running (see notes below). Toe box is much roomier than the kwicky but I didn't experience any shifting since the rest of the shoe hugged my foot quite nicely. Much flatter feel at 8mm drop from heel to toe - very balanced shoe which carried over into run sessions.

Overall, I preferred the fit of the BLR II over the kwicky for an everyday trainer mainly due to the roomier toe box.

Comfort/Ride Quality:

Kwicky Blade Light (neutral): I've heard others make this comment about the kwicky's and I think it holds true for my experience - overall, they provide a soft "spongy" ride and are pretty responsive punchy which I like for faster sessions. Very comfortable for running right out of the box. As a midfoot striker I definitely noticed the beafier heel and the drop to the forefoot. Forefoot padding is a little thin for my strike pattern especially for an everyday trainer but I think this wouldn't be as noticeable for heel strikers. This is really my biggest gripe with the shoe - over long runs it became a noticeable wear area on the front ball of my foot. I'll definitely lean towards these shoes for longer tempo sessions or days wear my legs may be feeling a bit heavy. I'm on the fence between the kwicky and k-ruuz 1.5 over the 70.3 distance.

Blade light run II (neutral shoe): Immediate impression of these shoes were twofold: definitely has a low drop feel similar to the kinvara3 (best comparison I could think of) which is more generous to the midfoot strike crowd and alot firmer ride than the kwicky which I particular notice during hill repeat sessions. The first few runs in these shoes were a little firm but I did notice after a few sessions (25-30 miles) these shoes broke in quite nicely which has been my experience with other shoes as well. K-swiss did a great job with the R&D that went into this shoe adding some additional rubber support in the heavy use areas I mentioned above (forefoot and inner ball of the foot) there is noticeably more support in the forefoot which is a heavy use area for me - bonus!!! It does feel a touch heavier than the kwicky but this may have been due to the weight being more blanced throughout the shoe but definitely not a klunker at under 10oz. I also didn't feel the "springy-ness" of the kwicky in this shoe but I think this shoe holds up much better for long sessions. Not a shoe I would race in at the Olympic or 70.3 distance but I think this would be a good candidate for 140.6 distance racing since the shoe relatively light and holds up well with no "break down" effect over longer runs - 17+ miles.

Overall, I was very happy with this shoes' performance as an every day trainer and will be my staple for training. I'll probably still rotate in the kwicky's for some faster sessions but my strike pattern and biomechanics work much better with the BLR II.

70.3 distance race day choice: Decisions, decisions, decisions...

Note to K-Swiss on the K-Ruuz 1.5: This is a great race flat but would love to see k-swiss incorporate the lower drop profile of the BLR II into the k-ruuz model and add more padding to the forefoot. Fingers crossed that there will be a K-ruuz 2.0 released in the very near future that meets these specs!!!!

Build, Build, Build

I've held off posting for a few weeks to provide the report of my first bigger build week of the year and recovery. First big build week of the year was a success - 21.5 total hours with a bike focus following a big bike block (so a ton of bike volume over a 15 days period). I had been averaging about 13-16hrs/week and a few 18hr weeks so a decent bump in volume to stress the body a bit more. We decided to focus on the bike for this block since late November thru Dec were focussed on bigger run volume (45-55 miles/week). I'll admit I was a little worried my bike was getting behind with all the focus on running over the past 2 months and guess what?! bike fitness was still as solid as ever. The body responded very nicely - no extreme soreness or fatigue. Last season I was really dragging during any week over 20 hours. I really felt like I absorbed every bit of the training during the bigger build week. Kudos to coach Torsten for laying this out in a way to stress my body but not absolutely shut me down. Very good mix of aerobic training with some harder efforts to fire the muscle fibers a bit including a 5K race on the Monday to kickoff the week. The recovery week following went well with no residual fatigue or SICKNESS. With the focus on staying healthy this year so this was huge. Money in the bank for the upcoming season.

Build Week Totals (bike focus):
Time: 21.5 hours
Bike: 260 miles
Run: 34.7 miles
Core: 40min
Swim: 10,000M

Build Block + Village 5K Race Report

With my build block well underway and a 5 weeks of solid swim/run volume it was time for a big bike block (13hours in 6 days). Mentally I was a little concerned about the lower bike volume but every session has been focused on quality and the numbers were looking good for off season base building. Coach re-assured me that my bike fitness would not be a problem and he was right (as usual). Will be interesting to see where my lactate threshold levels are this year compared to last December's baseline test - my guess if a 60-75w increase but we'll have to see what the numbers say. Solid 13 hour block complete over the holidays with a 5K race sprinkled in for fun. Three more build blocks on the bike planned before the end of the February and then we get into race specific work 5-6 weeks out from IM 70.3 Texas. Everything is on track and looking good.

Village 5K Race Report:
I say this all the time but I really hate racing and training in the cold. Well, this race was definitely in the cold category. Doing this race in the middle of a big cycling block I knew my legs would probably be pretty tight/heavy and a good warm-up was warranted. Also, this was an afternoon race which was a little different. I probably ate too much for lunch 3 hours prior so note taken for future late day races. Got in a good warm-up and threw on the K-swiss k-ruuz 1.5 and was ready to rock n roll. The goal was 16:30 but after seeing the course was quite hilly with 2 x 180degrees turns on non-fresh legs I decided sub-17 would be good goal. I really didn't use any strategy for this one just try and go as fast as I could without blowing up mid-race. It looked as though there were a few college XC kids in town for the holidays. One guy got out front and I tried to stay on his shoulder as long as I could but let him go after about 3/4 of a mile (he ended up running a 15:34) and he created a 75M gap pretty quickly. Felt good through the first mile at 5:07 but as soon as we started to hit the uphills my quads got pretty heavy so I decided to try and make up as much as I could on the downhills. I was good through the first 180 turn and then back uphill but saw 2 guys starting to close, same thing at the next turn and then CRAP - caught again at mile 2.5. Two guys gapped my quickly and held pace through the finish to come in about 5 seconds ahead of me. If I could figure out how to race these things a little more efficiently I probably could have held on to second but all in all this is good speed work for the upcoming season. I closed out better than the last 2 races and crossed the finish line in 4th at 16:47 (almost 20 seconds from 3 weeks ago on a similar course). 

Time: 16:47
Place: 4th overall / 1s M30-34

Build Week - 10 Dec 2103

Total Hours: 16:21
Bike: 120miles
Run: 51.3
Swim: 13,342 yds (missed a session due to pool maintenance)

Everything is still going along as planned with operation "optimize run" in full force. This was my highest mileage of 52 miles working up form 40 and 42. Coming off a 5k on Sunday I was able to log some high quality run miles with my key session on Thursday being a good indicator of current long distance run fitness. 10 mile tempo run at 6:15 pace was very well executed with no residual soreness or fatigue the following day. I was super happy with this run and completed it in my K-Swiss K-ruuz 1.5 which will be my race shoe of choice this season for all distances. Finished up the week w/ a very solid 16.5 mile trail run w/ almost 1200 ft of gain. It seems metabolically I'm continuing to improve as well completing this run on water and electrolytes only. I'm still thinking that nutrition played a major factor in my sub-par performances early in the season last year. We'll put this to the test in a few more months. I find it kind of comical that so many people are focused on putting in these killer bike workouts right now but complaining about how bad their run times were last season.

Also starting to show some meaningful improvements in the pool completing my recent tempo sets at 1:26-7/100M - huge improvement here in terms of pace and swim endurance which should also carry over to the bike. I've always kind of poo poo'd master's swim groups in the past but the group I'm swimming with now (mixed with the high school swim team) is really helping improve my swim technique and overall swim fitness. I still hate kick sets though. Not sure I'll ever come to love drills. Ms. Debi (aka Guns) has been such a huge help and she puts up with my complaining.

Now that the Wattie clan is up and running on FB and twitter things are much more entertaining. Really enjoying having this group to interact with - race season should be epic this year.

Build week again this week moving into the holidays. I'll be "run-ning"..

Until next time...

Wattie Ink Elite Team Selection and the Future...

A few days before the wattie ink elite team selection came out I had a little FB discussion about "paying dues" which I translated into working hard to get what you want (I was the first of my German family born in the US so I grew up to this motto). Oh, the irony here leading up to the Wattie Ink selection process and announcement. Needless to say, I was absolutely elated when when I saw my name on the 2013 Elite team announcement. Truth be told, I was afraid to look and someone else had to send me a message telling me I was on the team. Very excited to be part of a great group of athletes all crazy about the sport of triathlon and supporting each other through training, racing and everything in between. I've already been overwhelmed with the outgoing warm welcome the Tina and Sean and the wattie teammates. A good reminder of why I applied to be on this team and was so happy to be selected. Thanks again to Sean and his crew for the selection. I'll be sure to not disappoint.

Why was I interested in Wattie Ink.?

1) It seemed to me that the Wattie Ink boss Sean "wattie" Watkins has a good thing going here and maybe even something that could change the dynamics of triathlon if it catches fires and is implemented correctly (atleast in the US as I know other Euro countries have been doing this for a while). Not sure if this is his vision but... (see below)
2) I also liked the model where there was opportunity for growth as I develop/progress as a triathlete given the likely possibility that I will be racing pro within the next year. I felt like Wattie provided the platform to make this happen and the team is comprised of positive, competitive and outgoing people. Win-Win.
3) I wanted to be associated team of like-minded triathletes with similar goals, ambition, drive and character which is not always easy to find locally. I really enjoy training and helping with the local crew of triathletes but it's always good to have others' to bounce ideas off of and meet at national races.
4) The sponsors and access to the market that Wattie Ink has is pretty impressive. For someone who wants to be more embedded in the industry long term this was really appealing to me.

The Future...

I was doing some noodling on my long run this morning and the brilliance of the "team model" could be a game changer for triathlon, a sport that is already growing rapidly, in terms of how it's organized, sponsor behavior, money etc. Could there be some parallels to cycling teams and professional cycling? Yes but also very different. I think it can be done in a way that brings an extra competitive flare to the sport of triathlon while still maintaining the individualism (and uniqueness) of the sport. We are seeing some coaches use this model, maybe more at the local/regional level, and I think it's something that could be taken more nationally backed by big name sponsors (like cycling) and possibly allow pros to be paid more in line with what they deserve for the effort they put in. Let's face it, when asked most people will say some of the best days of their lives were team sports. clubs or other groups they were part of in high school or college. You're able to re-kindle that sense of "belonging" through a team model and connect people more closely in a world that has become possibly less connected through social media and other outlets. Train together, race together, have fun together. This is done successfully through a wide variety of "get off the couch" training programs across the country but focussed more at the community level. By moving to a team model, you also insert more competitiveness in the amateur ranks and allow for more robust development model for up and coming triathletes all the way up to elites (Elite/Pros, elite amateurs, MOP amateurs, U25 with potential etc.).  In some ways you could "professionalize" the sport a bit more. So, right now you have Wattie Ink, Timex, Zoot, Trisports and others all selecting "elite" teams using different criteria (which is moot for the purposes of this discussion). So, how do you take these teams and create a competitive team based model for triathlon at the national level?? Something I'll have to think about in more depth but certainly an intersting topic for discussion w/ USAT, race directors, race series owners and sponsors.