Oil Man - post race listicle!

Four days - and counting - of non-exercise has sapped my creative juices so to get over this severe case of writer’s block, I’m going to opt for the used-and-abused listicle to share my post race thoughts from Sunday’s Oil Man.

Seven ‘Hell Yeah’s’

7) Avoided DQ’s. Walked my bike from parking lot to transition area this year therefor avoided a DQ. Before the race even started it was a success! #winning

6) Be patient. There might be something to this whole being patient in long distance racing thing after all. With the exception of the swim leg, my plan heading into the race was to hold back during the first half of both bike and run legs to make sure there was enough left in the tank to make it to the end. I stuck to my guns and felt solid the back half of the race. The swim was a bit different as I wanted to get separation from the pack if possible so I could navigate through the barrage of bodies without someone constantly grabbing my legs.

5) Swim in Lake Conroe. Not going to lie, I was a bit of a pool rat starting in July to recover from back surgery and to get the body back into shape. The consistency in the pool these past few months paid off despite the idiot operator who decided to wear a sleeved skin suit on race morning.

4) Dangle a carrot. Most impressive race of the day in my mind was the female winner Ashley Johnson from Dallas area. As lead person out on the course, she had the motorcycle escort on the bike and the bike escort on the run. She showed no weakness. I got to within 15 seconds of her by the end of the second lap but then she turned on the after burners on the third lap leaving me to lick my wounds to cross the finish line first. Bravo and well earned!

3) Wolf it down. In the past, I neglected to eat and drink as diligently as I should have being too focused on staying in an aero tuck putting up the fastest bike split possible. I checked my ego at the door on Sunday, ate plenty of bars and gels, drank three bottles of drink mix and felt sufficiently full by the time the buffet-style bike ended.

2) Red Bull on the run. The first mile out of T2 can often be a bit rough but gulping down one of their yellow edition cans provided the boost I was looking for out there. The miles weren’t ticking by all that quickly, but I was alert enough to balance my footing on the slanted cart paths and avoid the mud puddles.

1) Houston Honey Badgers. A couple of different scenarios may have led to the large and maniacal crowds pumping life into the race: 1) many athletes already put an end to their racing season but still have the tri spirit running through their veins 2) many athletes were in taper mode with their races taking place this weekend at 70.3 Austin or Ironman Florida (or IMAZ in two weeks) or 3) the crappier the weather, the more the Houston honey badgers seemingly come out to support. Regardless, those cheering on Sunday were awesome, especially TJ Fry viciously shaking that bell. Couldn’t get away from him fast enough! The multiple lap course with the added smaller loops made it fun to see Emily and the girls a few times too which is always inspiring.

Seven ‘Oh No’s’ 

7) Jet Skis. What is it about jet skis and Texas long distance races! Not quite as problematic as the jet ski that obstructed the path of the pros at Ironman Texas in May, but the decision to tear through the middle of the swim pack on Sunday seemed over the top. Yikes! Hope Mr/Mrs Jet Skier successfully saved whoever they were zooming towards. From what I could tell no one got taken out but everyone in the vicinity got to gulp down a few mouthfuls of gasoline.

6) Rain Dance. Steve Elliott from VR Cycling Studio must have been doing the rain dance with how persistent it came down all weekend. The Texas Kangaroo created this dancing spell for the folks who still believe indoor cycling should only be done during bad weather spells. To drive them indoors. It was in full effect this past weekend. Hey people, get with the times and add indoor trainer work year round. It works.

5) Cramps while doing what?! Looked like a newborn giraffe every few miles reaching behind the saddle to get fluids from my rear hydration bottle set-up. It was a set-up I hadn’t tested before so I cinched the bottle holders extra tight to avoid any bottle launches on Grimes County’s rough roads and over the Richards and Johnson Rd railroad crossings. This meant I had to summon up gorilla-like strength (harder said than done for us wimpy endurance athletes) to pull the bottles out and force them back into their cages. A few times my chest and stomach muscles ceased up in cramps. I just had to laugh it off.

4) Bonehead moves on race day. Tried too many new things on race day that hadn’t been practiced during training. Small hiccups and annoyances but luckily no game changers. A few included:

Swimming with a sleeved skin suit. Initially I thought about keeping the top rolled down around my waist and putting on once swim was over but opted to swim with the top on instead. With wetsuit on I jumped into the lake to find out I was annoyed with the water collecting in the arms. Oh well, good practice for OtillO.

Cycling with a new power meter and computer set-up to gauge effort on bike. Computer set up disengaged from it’s configuration and dangling from the cockpit within the first 400 meters. By the time I reached the exit of La Toretta onto Walden Rd I had yanked the whole configuration off the stem and stuffed it into my back pocket. So I spent the next 55-miles having to tune in and listen to my body. A scary proposition to be sure.

3) Did the hills turn into mountains? When Emily and I first raced Oil Man in 2007 we were living in Colorado. The hills in the Sam Houston National Forest weren’t back breakers for us as we spent most of our time riding in the Rocky Mountains. Of course this could be a fishing tale as my memory has faded but I don’t remember getting out of the aerobars back then. On Sunday, I couldn’t wait to get out of the aerobars and onto the hoods, give my body a change of position and, gulp, shlep my ass up to the top of those mountains, err, hills!

2) Losing eyesight and focus with age. Not paying enough attention to the wave starts and realizing the youngsters wave was last with the relays. Even after the race I still assumed our 30-39 age group was the last individual wave to go off as was the case last year. One athlete in particular, Mark Simmons, had a great swim bike combo and was the virtual men’s race leader heading out onto the run. In his first attempt at the half distance he came up a bit short this time around but I have my work cut out and will have to be far more aggressive and attentive next year as this guy, and others (ahem Michael Ashrita and Scott Wilkinson) only continue to get better.

1) Run like a Girl! I sit firmly in the camp with families and fathers who enjoy running down the finishing chute with their children. I won’t apologize if it ruins anyone’s finishing photo and the practice of it being banned from some organizations is one reason why I’d prefer to support local races who understand how special the memories are to share with family. It meant the world to me to have Emily and my daughters at the race. They are troopers as everyone knows it sucks to stand around in the rain! With that said, my five year-old daughter totally kick my ass sprinting down the chute (proof below the run isn't even where her true talents lie!). Win a race, lose a race, balance in the world was restored. I need to learn how to run like a girl this off-season!

High five to Bryan Alsdorf for snapping, and sharing, some great photos from the day!

Week of Oilman!

Five months goes by fast. On June 2nd, I had a microdiscectomy to repair a few extruded lumbar discs. The biggest culprit had been leg pain that was becoming an increasing nuisance on daily functions and living quality. Training wasn’t even a consideration. I needed a solution so I could work towards regaining strength and range of motion again. On the recommendation of Dr. Keith Johnson from Sterling Ridge Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine, I went to see Dr. Geoffrey Zubay, a Neurosurgeon, and a fellow triathlete, at Memorial Hermann.

I walked out of the hospital that day with one goal in mind -- attack the recovery process as if it were the biggest race of the year. I knew if I did this properly, I could likely make it to the starting line of Oilman, the season finale event for Houston area triathletes, and the best and longest running half-Iron distance race in the area.

Since last year’s Oilman event, I wanted to get back to make right on one of the silliest mistakes I have made in more than ten years of racing triathlon -- riding my bike to transition prior to race start without a helmet on, a rightful disqualification according to USA Triathlon rules.

Despite being disqualified, I was still able to complete the race, and tackle the unrelenting hills inside San Houston National Forest and the looped run course around the family-friendly La Torretta Resort. Enough motivation in the bank to get back to add my name to the actual finisher’s list this year.

One week till race day and the only things I am sure about is that I am going to enjoy being out on the course with everyone coming out to race, and that my helmet will be buckled!

I'm very thankful to the doctors who were not only exceptional with their surgical care but also in their follow up in the months afterwards. Once the body was ready to go, I eased into swimming, a few months later cycling and most recently running. As was the case prior to surgery, Steve Elliott at VR Cycling Studio has been invaluable in writing my coaching plans and giving his advice, and continues to be diligent in sticking to my only request to eliminate 'all fluff' from my workouts.


Looking forward to letting the chips fall where they may next Sunday and getting the opportunity to cross the line with my two daughters, as long as they don't try to out sprint their Old Man down the chute!

CB&I Tri '15

“Well the first days are the hardest days, don't you worry any more,
Cause when life looks like easy street, there is danger at your door.”
Uncle John’s Band, Grateful Dead

I knew it would be a tall task to defend last year’s win at CB&I Tri. The level of competition keeps getting stronger in this community and having Balazs Csoke and Justin Daerr toeing the line this year meant I would need to raise my game if I wanted to have a crack at repeating.

I took a six week break from exercise after Challenge Bahrain - with the exception of a handful of SUP tours of the local lakes - and by the time February rolled around, I was chomping at the bit to get prep for the upcoming season underway. I set a few intermediate goals to gauge how my fitness was tracking including: The Woodlands Half Marathon (March), Rouge Roubaix (March) and Muddy Trails 10k (April). Despite crashing in Rouge Roubaix, all signs pointed that my fitness was on track to throw down the gauntlet on May 2nd.

It was helpful having visiting pros Tim Reed and Justin in town and I made sure to join as many of their high-intensity sessions as my schedule allowed. I made it a point to hop in the pool with Tim a few times a week. He’s a big proponent of low volume, high intensity training, which aligns with my training philosophy too, so we proved a good match as he was in between racing 70.3 New Orleans and 70.3 St. George. For cycling, Steve Elliott of VR Cycling Studio wrote me up a manageable plan where we could optimize the limited time I had available to achieve our desired result...producing as much power as possible over 20-30 minutes!

Despite the water temp of Lake Woodlands jumping up four (4) degrees to 76-F in the two days leading into the race, it was deemed a wetsuit swim. I was surprised Balazs opted to race without a wetsuit but last year I got schooled in the water by a top junior girl swimmer who didn’t use a wetsuit, so my game plan remained the same, hang with him as long as possible. We ended up swimming side by side to the first turn buoy at which time I tried moving back to his feet. Oddly enough, slipping back to take advantage of his draft, is when I started to drop off his pace. Justin took over the second position and I tried to keep contact with his feet and exited the water only down 10-15 seconds. As a side note, I’m really impressed with how much Justin’s swimming has improved over the years. It’s obvious he’s put in a lot of hard work.

Having both Balazs and JD in sight out of T1 was a big confidence booster. I didn’t waiver from my game plan of pushing the first five miles of the 15-mile bike at the most uncomfortable pace I could manage. I was really excited by all the tight turns over the early part of the course and figured my cycling background would be an advantage. I took over the lead from Balazs shortly after turning onto Gosling Rd. I buried my head and pushed. I didn’t look back until the exit ramp onto Woodlands Pkwy and was surprised to see Balazs still behind me. I waived him around and when he didn’t respond I told myself to bury it for five (5) more minutes and then reassess. When I turned back I could no longer see him so decided to back the effort down a hair as my legs hadn’t yet experienced a run off the bike this year and I didn’t know how they would respond.

I was surprised to exit T2 and not see Balazs or JD arrive yet so I shook out a small calf cramp and took off on the 3-mile run at the highest pace I could manage. I wanted to get to the turnaround as quickly as possible so I could determine how to dole out the effort over the back half of the course. With around a minute lead at the turnaround I continued to push hard until the bridge on Lake Woodlands and then enjoyed the final 50 meters holding Elin and trying to keep up with Kaia across the line. Thanks to my in-laws for having the girls on hand to see their Mama and Dada participate.

A few high-fives to pass out as no effort is ever done alone. Emily and the two girls gave me all the motivation I needed. It was inspiring to see Emily race to 2nd place overall off the back of her limited training. She is a daily inspiration to me and our daughters as she gets her 45-60 minutes of ‘training’ in every morning at 4:45AM!

JD and Balazs were great sportsmen. Both are in the midst of their Ironman prep, which couldn’t be more different from short course racing, but their presence in the race made me dig really deep to get the most out of myself. Neither were at their best but no excuses were made. Pure class.

Jeff Chaffin at BikeLand helped fix a major mechanical problem with my TT bike a few days before the race. If it wasn’t for him and his staff I would have had to default to my cross bike on race day. Phew!

Steve Elliott constructed an achievable cycling plan that worked with my schedule and provided constant feedback on how I could squeeze every watt out while on the bike. His VR Cycling Studio has proven to be a valuable resource for me.

Keith Johnson and his partners at SROSM for the access to their Alter G treadmill. Three weeks ago my run training was hampered by Sciatica and being able to continue running without the impact of bodyweight helped stay the course with training. Of course, they also have the best Physical Therapist in town! No, I’m not biased.

Finally, I am continually amazed by The Woodlands Township. This is considered a small town race, perfectly suited for beginners, however they put on a world class production. Angel Nicks has assembled an all-star cast including Dana Lyons in the Transition Area, Willie Fowlkes and The Woodlands Marathon Management Company keeping us safe out there on the course, Sandra Sutherland with over 400 Volunteers helpful and smiling all morning, and one of the most knowledgable announcers around, Jon Walk. The man does his homework! I always manage to learn new facts about myself that I didn’t previously know.

*Special Thanks to Bryan Alsdorf and 2014 CB&I Female Champ Sarah Gray Hankla for the photos!