A Solid Race in Portland; Now Its Time to Rest and Get Healthy. London's Calling

Pro Nationals were last weekend in Portland, Ore and I am grateful to have turned in a solid 9th place finish. I was little more than 30 seconds outside a top 5 finish and with better run fitness, could have made it a lot closer to the podium. I had a good swim and made the lead pack on the bike. A break away of two (Matty Reed and Matt Chrabot) got away on the first lap and our group, despite having decent fire power, was unable to reel them in. In fact, we lost a bit of time to them over the course of the 8-lap 40K bike. My cassette came loose during the race and caused ghost shifting problems and prevented me from getting into my biggest three gears. I was supposed to make something happen on the bike, but this severely limited my ability to reach top-end speed, so I settled into the dysfunctional pack, did a decent amount of work, and set my sites on a solid first run in over a month. In a repeat of FISU World University Games, Kevin ran past me from one bike pack back in the final lap to beat me by one spot. Quite distinct from FISU, Ethan had one heck of a race to turn in a podium finish. All in all, it was a solid day for "Les Stupide Americane."

I went dark after the Olympics as I dealt with a number of health issues that caused quite a bit of frustration and threatened to keep me out of Pro Nationals. In fact, I was undecided whether I would race and if I would run during the race up and until the day before the race. First, before I left the Springs, I had blood drawn for a routine blood test. Once I got back to Davis, I got a call from the director of the USOC Physiology lab who apparently had been looking for me quite frantically in the Springs. It turns out I had stage-three iron-deficiency anemia which causes fatigue, weakness and inhibits recovery. As the condition worsens, the length of time to recovery grows longer. It was important I address the matter immediately by taking iron supplements (She recommended Feosol because each batch is tested and certified to be free of WADA-banned substances) and eating more red meat. When I told her I was having trouble sleeping, too, she recommended I eat ice cream with chocolate syrup just before bed. So I went on a diet of burgers and ice cream--on the advice of the USOC! I started to feel better after about 2-3 weeks of supplementation.

But just as I was gaining energy and strength back, I started to get a pain in my hip flexor when I ran. After running through the pain for about a week (It was starting to hurt to walk even), I took three days off running. Then I tried running again and it still hurt. I subsequently stopped running until Portland on the advice of Dr. Sam Dixit at the UC Berkeley Tang Center (he's great). His guess, which couldn't be confirmed without an MRI, was that I had a stress reaction--a precursor to a stress fracture though it is every bit as serious, treatment is the same, and recovery can take just as long as a stress fracture. Given these set backs, I thought about ending the season all together, but I wanted to see how I could do against the best triathletes in the U.S. I'm glad I decided to race Portland.

Now I get to enjoy a few weeks of training break, then it will be back to base training--with lots of focus on running--to prepare for next year. A new quadrennium begins next year, which means I have 4 years to make my dream of an Olympic berth come true.

Zero Hour Approaches

As the Olympic triathlons approach just a day away, athletes seem to have been graced with mild temperatures and relatively low levels of pollution, which will make fitness on the challenging Beijing course the deciding factor in the upcoming races. Athletes have said they do not think the heat and air will be determining factors as has been feared leading up to the games.

Matt Reed seems to have nabbed the best start position of American men, positioned to the far left of the pontoon near Javier Gomez, the world number one, who selected first and chose to start as far to the left as he could. Jarrod Shoemaker is farther to the right, but positioned near Ivan Rana and Jan Fordeno. Hunter Kemper finds himself in the middle of the field and should look for the feet of Collin Jenkins (of Canada) who starts not too far away.

Interestingly, the women seemed to prefer the right side of the pontoon, with World Number One Vanessa Fernandez choosing the seventh position on the pontoon. Laura Bennett should feel confident in her positioning just to the left of Fernandez. Sarah Haskins finds herself not too far away on the fourth right-most position on the pontoon. Jule Ertel starts from the middle of the pontoon.

From personal experience, start position can be critical in a race. But USA Triathlon's sport performance director would argue otherwise. More often than not, I guess he is right, but it can make a difference on occasion.

The US contingent arrived in Beijing from Chechu South Korea yesterday after a successful camp that included an informal sprint triathlon. But this wasn't your typical small town sprint tri. It drew a field of 30 olympians, with athletes from many other federations who were training in the area ahead of the games. Word on the street is Shoemaker finished third among this field, and still had something left in the tank. Could his singular focus on the Olympics since his last race in Beijing be paying off?

The ITU has a race preview posted here just one day before the women's race gets underway.

Triathletes Wear Masks in Beijing; Avoid Controversy That Met Cyclists

As the Associated Press reports, American triathletes have said they will wear carbon filter masks whenever they are outside in Beijing. Matt Reed even vowed to wear the mask during the opening ceremony, though not during the march into the Bird's Nest:

"I definitely am conscious (of perceptions) and I don't want to offend anyone," Matt Reed said, "but I'm out for my own health, really. I'm sure they know the air quality is not good, so I don't see it's that bad wearing a mask."

Reed and Hunter Kemper wore masks during a training run around Olympic Village friday and reported having trouble breathing. According to Jarrod Shoemaker, who earned some scorn for wearing a mask in Beijing at the Olympic Qualifying World Cup in October, at which he earned his spot on the Olympic Team:

Triathlete Jarrod Shoemaker, who wore a mask before qualifying for the U.S. team during the Beijing World Cup in September, noted the skies had changed from "more yellow and dark" last year to a whitish color. Shoemaker said the sky "doesn't look as bad, but you can still kind of taste it."

"We take the precautions we need to," triathlon team leader Scott Schnitzspahn said. "We're still far enough out from our competition that a little exposure isn't going to really affect them too much. But we still don't want them running around sucking on a tailpipe."

The triathlon team departed Beijing early Saturday to train in South Korea before returning just a few days ahead of the Olympic competitions on August 17 and 18.

To Our Olympic Heroes: Remember, Be Humble, and Smile

As our Olympians prepare to represent the United States on the most grand of sporting stages, they could use some perspective and a dose of humility, lest they give new meaning to the term “ugly American.”

Worries about air quality have swirled around the Beijing games like the dark plumes of smoke from Chinese factories captured in endless pre-Olympic news photography. Fearing adverse health effects from polluted air, some of our athletes have vowed to wear the top secret carbon-filter masks they’ve received from the USOC at all times outside competition, including during the Opening Ceremony.

Can’t you just see it? As delegations from Argentina to Austria enter the Olympic stadium with the widest of grins telegraphing their exhilaration, the American team will look alien and cold, their emotions concealed behind these masks. They will be seen not to parade in peace, but to march in defiance of a country they’ve deemed unworthy. Triathlete Matt Reed may have best captured the sentiment when he called it “just disgusting what they’ve done to that part of the world.”

Before they stand in judgment, our athletes should be reminded that just a century and a half ago, our cities too were smothered in smoke. Charles Dickens described the cityscape of America in his Hard Times: It was a town of machines and tall chimneys, out of which interminable serpents of smoke trailed themselves forever and ever and never got uncoiled.”

But the factories that clogged our cities in soot produced a period of economic advance exceeded only by the recent economic gains in China. Our industrial revolution set America on a path of growth that affords Americans today the opportunity to be more worried about clean air and climate change than hunger and disease.

It is asking quite a lot of China’s parents to subordinate the nourishment of their children to the environmental sensibilities of a country that hasn’t known significant poverty in more than 50 years. Forty million Chinese children are estimated to be malnourished. Per capita income in the US is eight times greater than that of China. We had our industrial revolution and, now, with median household incomes of $45,000, can afford the luxury of heightened environmentalism. China, too, deserves a chance to lift its people from poverty.

And lifting it is. In the past 30 years, 400 million people have been lifted from poverty in China—more than the entire population of the United States. Even amid all the pollution, life expectancy in China has increased over the past decade. Healthy life expectancy has seen similar gains. Per capita income more than doubled from 2000 to 2007 and poverty has fallen to less than 10 percent from more than 60 percent in 1970.

China is quickly becoming an economic power with sufficient might to address environmental degradation and clean up its mess. And certainly on other political scores, the Chinese regime can be criticized. But before our American heroes march into Beijing with righteous indignation, they should remember that America’s great cities were once cloaked in smoke from factories that built for us a better future. Let them remember, be humble, and bear their proud smiles to the watching world.

COS Training

After three weeks of racing in Europe, it is great to be back in the states. I am training at the OTC in Colorado Springs. I actually spent 5 days here, then flew home to Davis to take care of school responsibilities, and then returned a few days ago. I'll be here for another three weeks. Its good to be getting in some solid training after what seemed like an interminable taper. Next races won't be until September, so this is a key training phase for me.

Its great to be here at the COS: great training and testing facilities, friends and training partners, and amazing food. It will be pretty cool to watch the Beijing games from here, though its not clear if I will be here for the triathlon races.

To Wear the Mask or Not; The "Uncool Factor"

The Wall Street Joural reports on the decision Olympic athletes may have to make about wearing carbon-filter masks in the opening of the Olys in Beijing:

Chinese officials insist the notorious Beijing air will be cleaner by August, making such contraptions unnecessary. Concerned about the pollution, the U.S. Olympic Committee is distributing a high-tech mask, developed in secrecy, to its more than 600 Olympians. If athletes deploy it, they risk insulting the hosts. Then there's the geek factor.

"I probably will want to wear it," says the 26-year-old Mr. Shoemaker, who plans to have his mask on nearly all the time he's in Beijing when not competing. "Whether I will be allowed to is a different issue."

USOC officials in charge of creating the top-secret masks given to US athletes say the biggest threat from pollution isn't poor Beijing performance but lingering effects that could be to the detriment of performance years down the road.

As an aside, it is a life goal of mine to have the WSJ do one of these profile sketches of me. So jealous...

The Ladies of TriSexton.com

Offical TriSexton.com swimsuit calendar coming soon...

Arrival in the Springs

Tisza was a tough race that didn't go too well. The previous two weekends, I had solid races despite having things no fall completely into line. Tisza was different. I was out of the water in the third pack--a worst-ever swim for me. The stroke felt not great. My group worked to close on the lead and entered T2 with them. My legs were fried though and the run was a suffer-fest until I called it quits on the second lap. Three weeks of racing may have taken its toll. Being sick earlier in the week surely didn't help. But mostly I am looking forward to 5 weeks of training at the Colorado Springs OTC to get fitness back and really work on my swim stroke, which hasn't felt this bad in over a decade.

I arrived at the COS OTC late last night and will take the next few days to recover a bit and then ramp up the training.

Les Stupide American

As I left Tiszajvarous for the 27-hour return to the states, I reflected on why I was so glad to be getting back. Apart from the obvious--that I had been living out of a suitcase for over two weeks, spending no more than four nights in any place at a time and traveling a lot, I have compiled the partial list of things I take for granted in the states:

1. Ice
2. Having sheets on beds, rather than just heavy comforters in unairconditioned rooms; and sheets that actually fit the beds.
3. Sinks that drain.
4. Toilets that flush (I could go on, but I won't)
5. Screens on windows when their is no A/C and nasty bugs that fly around.
6. Potable water from the sink/drinking fountains.
7. Knowing how much you are paying for something before it shows up on your cc bill.
8. High speed internet.

Its a partial list.

Hamburg World Cup Race Report

After the FISU games, Ethan, Kevin and I headed to a US Air Force base in the southern Germany town of Sembach to train leading up to the Hamburg WC the following weekend(Ethan and I had been there in 2006). It is great to get on the base because it is a little piece of America away from home, replete with American food (at the bowling alley) and a commissary with all your American favorites (incl. Yoplait and PowerBar) and at subsidized prices no less! We were there Sunday to Thursday and left Thursday AM for Hamburg--a 8 hour trip north by car.

The Hamburg WC was a great experience. The three of us all finished in the top 20. It was the first WC for Ethan and I. His 15th place finish earned him the best WC debut of an American. My 19th was good enough to tie Andy Potts for the second-best WC debut for an American. The swim was rough. The "train" left from the opposite side of the pontoon from me. I got open water pretty easily, but only to find out I needed to be on the feet of the fast moving train far to my right. I may as well have been swimming in a pool for the limited contact I had with other athletes (rare in an ITU race). Nevertheless, I was able to finally work my way up through shear effort to make the second pack on the bike. The bike went pretty easily. I probably did more work than I should have, but it felt much easier than the previous week. I got off the bike in ok position, had a terrible T2--I couldn't get my flats on. I race decently, picking off some guys from the pack. But my run still needs work.

After watching the women's race the next day, Ethan flew home to race Geneva today, while Kevin and I returned to Sembach for a few days. We then headed two days ago to Tizajavarous (sp?) for a third straight week of racing at the WC there. The race is tomorrow and I am feeling pretty good. I'm seeded 16th and hoping to maintain position for my second top 20 at a WC. Then its home for a bit and off to the springs for a training camp.

Oh, I almost forgot. Our orders that get us on to Sembach also work for Ramstein, so Kevin and I twice made the 20-minute drive to Ramstein to see the C-130s (its the busiest flightline in the armed forces) and eat at Chili's. Yes, there's a Chili's in Germany. It was amazing. Only one Mac Deux meal for me so far...

Below are pics of Kevin, Ethan and I after Hamburg and the number-two-in-the-world FISU team, respectively.

Whipple gets World University Gold

from triathlon.teamusa.org:

Justine Whipple loves the big stage. The 22-year-old Naval Academy graduate continued her rise in the triathlon ranks by winning the gold medal at the 2008 FISU Triathlon World University Championship in Erdek, Turkey on Sunday.
2007 USAT Collegiate National Champion Kevin Collington (Orlando, Fla.) was the top U.S. male finisher in sixth with a time of 2:03:33.

READ MORE OF USA TRIATHLON ARTICLE HERE

Collington WUC Race Report

TriSexton.com Editor Kevin Collington has a good race report and some nice pics:

We arrived in Turkey after relatively uneventful travel from the States (I did get upgraded to business class for the Chicago - Frankfurt leg, though, which was awesome). We were greeted by some FISU staff and made preparations to leave for Erdek. We just missed the 12:30 ferry to Erdek and the next one wasn’t until 6:30 so the FISU guys got a bus for everyone who had arrived around the time we did (this included the British, Greek and Chinese teams). We soon learned two important facts about how things operate in Turkey that would become the theme for the week - there will never be enough space on the bus and everything will take at least twice as long as the Turkish race delegations tells you. We were told that the bus would be quicker than waiting for the next ferry since it is only a “five hour drive,” so after barely fitting everyone and their luggage on the bus (bike boxes took up several seats) we set off for Erdek. We arrived in the city nearly eight hours later to find that everyone who had taken the 6:30 ferry was already sitting down to eat dinner. We had basically gone half way around the Sea of Marmara via Izmit.

READ MORE HERE

World University Champs Recap

A week ago tomorrow, I left Davis for Erdek, Turkey to compete in the World University Championships. I took seventh after leading much of the bike and having a decent run. With the 6th place finish of Florida's Kevin Collington and recent Nebraska grad Barrett Brandon's 15th place finish, the men's team took second behind Switzerland to become the most successful USA team in the history of the World University Games. The women took third, led by Justine Whipple, of Navy, who won the women's race to be crowned world university champion. She had a great race, leading much of the bike and building a 35 second lead over the run.

I'm happy with my race. I would have liked to run better off the bike, but Ethan Brown (USA) and I did most of the work in the lead bike pack, so our legs were pretty fried. Everything went technically well. I exited the swim well, transitioned well, positioned myself well at each 180-degree turn and into transition and ran with good form for at least 3 of the 4 laps.

Travel to Turkey was ridiculous. It was a full 26 hours of travel that begin with United giving away my ticket for my Sacramento to Chicago flight. The customer service representative was working with me to resolve the fact that I had a boarding pass and reserved ticket on the flight and that I had arrived in the gate in time only to find United's gate agent had given my seat to someone else. But as she worked to fix the situation (and walked me down the jet way), the gate agent closed the flight and the door to the plane. My travel that day would consist of 3 flights (Sac to Chicago. Chicago to Frankfurt, Frankfurt to Istanbul, Istanbul bus to ferry, ferry to Erdek bus, bus to hotel). Missing that flight would cause me to miss all of those connections unless I could make a flight in Chicago that would board as I landed from Sac.

I made that flight and met up with most the rest of the USA team. The worst part of the trip was a 6-hour bus ride from Istanbul to Erdek. It was hot and longer than the three hours we were promised. When we got to Erdek, we found out that two members of the USA delegation that arrived in Istanbul later had arrived ahead of us because they took the comfortable fast ferry that took just 2-hours to cover the same gound as our bus ride. I was mad!

The hotel we stayed in was ok, but the staff were rude. We were advised to drink bottled water, but the hotel would not provide us enough water, even at meals. The food served at the hotel was not very good. Heavy on watermelon and white bread. Erdek was very hot and humid, but had nice 76-degree waters.

Sunday, following the Saturday race, I travelled with Ethan and Kevin to Sembach, Germany. We have stayed on a US Air Force base here for several days and will leave tomorrow to travel to a race in Hamburg. Yes, its a world cup. It has been great to be in Germany, with good pastry and food. And it is so nice to return to stay at a US base where you can pay in dollars, speak english, but sour patch kids and get cheap food at the commisary. Germany is really pretty and the weather has been nice.

After Hamburg, Ethan returns to the states. Kevin and I come back to Sembach before heading out to Budapest for the Tisjavarous WC the next weekend. I may come home after that!

Sexton Joins "Strongest-Ever" Contingent of U.S. Athletes at World University Champs

From triathlon.teamusa.org


Nine U.S. Triathletes to Race at World University Championships in Turkey

USA Triathlon - June 18, 2008

Nine up-and-coming U.S. triathletes will compete at the International University Sports Federation's (FISU) 9th annual World University Championships in Erdek, Turkey, on June 28.
The triathlon events for men and women are draft-legal, Olympic distance races (1.5 kilometer swim, 40 kilometer bike, 10 kilometer run), with 134 athletes (74 men, 60 women) from 21 countries set to compete.

The U.S. team of five men and four women includes several current members of the USA Triathlon Elite Athlete Development Program and the USAT Trade Team. Their accomplishments are impressive, with a number of past World Championship team members, the reigning male and female USAT U23 National Champions, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 USAT Collegiate National Champions, 2007 and 2008 U.S. Armed Forces National Champion, and past USAT junior and U23 athletes of the year.

Read More Here

Swim is On this Weekend as Des Moines Recovers

USA Triathlon reports the Hyvee Triathlon will include a swim at an alternate site, enabling Olmypic selection for the third and final men's and women's spots to be decided at the race. Despite levees breaking in the Des Moines area, water quality at West Des Moines' Blue Heron Lake has tested safe. USAT Junior National Team Coach has checked out the venue and reports first hand that race officials have done great work to prepare the alternate site. It appears better staged than the ITU World Champs in Vancouver last weekend, he said, and race day is still three days away.

USAT and USOC officials have developed a backup plan should conditions in Des Moines deteriorate in the next several days, which they are not expected to. The Lifetime Fitness race in Minneapolis would be the final selection race as federation and Olympic committee officials seek to keep the final selection decision in the hands of athletes. Lifetime Fitness has agreed to make its popular elite race draft legal if needed to accomodate Olympic selection.

The above USAT link also has insightful analysis of how the final Olympic qualifier in Des Moines could play out--who is in contention and what does each athlete need to do to secure a spot. This final spot is one among three races, the cumulative scores from which will determine the final members of the Olympic team.

Hy-Vee Swim Likely Cancelled Due to Midwest Floods

The Des Moines Register reports that the final US Olympic Team selection event--the Hyvee Triathlon--will begin with a 10K run, followed by a 40K bike and a 5K run if water quality in Gray's Lake does not improve by June 28. Race organizers have announced a new race venue in West Des Moines to avoid impacts of the massive Mid-west floods. The new course does not include a swim. USAT has said it will pull selection status from the race if a suitable swim venue cannot be found. The decision would come within 24 hours of the race start. Absent a triathlon in Des Moines, final Olympic selection will be based on performance over the past 4 years.

Des Moines braced for flooding Friday afternoon as the Des Moines River continued to rise just below its banks. Will the levees hold?

Mexico Race Turns Tragic

CNN reports that a car crashed into a bike race near the US-Mexico border. One cyclist is dead. This image is horrific. This story serves as a tragic reminder to ride defensively and remember that a closed course is only closed to drivers who are law-abiding, sober, and awake. Hat tip: Mike Orton.

Carbon Chastity and the Church of the Environment

Charles Krauthammer paints a scary picture of the new energy rationing that will empower today's knowledge class much as communism and socialism empowered the "experts" of the past.

WASHINGTON -- I'm not a global warming believer. I'm not a global warming denier. I'm a global warming agnostic who believes instinctively that it can't be very good to pump lots of CO2 into the atmosphere, but is equally convinced that those who presume to know exactly where that leads are talking through their hats.

Predictions of catastrophe depend on models. Models depend on assumptions about complex planetary systems -- from ocean currents to cloud formation -- that no one fully understands. Which is why the models are inherently flawed and forever changing. The doomsday scenarios posit a cascade of events, each with a certain probability. The multiple improbability of their simultaneous occurrence renders all such predictions entirely speculative.

Yet on the basis of this speculation, environmental activists, attended by compliant scientists and opportunistic politicians, are advocating radical economic and social regulation. "The largest threat to freedom, democracy, the market economy and prosperity," warns Czech President Vaclav Klaus, "is no longer socialism. It is, instead, the ambitious, arrogant, unscrupulous ideology of environmentalism."

If you doubt the arrogance, you haven't seen that Newsweek cover story that declared the global warming debate over. Consider: If Newton's laws of motion could, after 200 years of unfailing experimental and experiential confirmation, be overthrown, it requires religious fervor to believe that global warming -- infinitely more untested, complex and speculative -- is a closed issue.

But declaring it closed has its rewards. It not only dismisses skeptics as the running dogs of reaction, i.e., of Exxon, Cheney and now Klaus. By fiat, it also hugely re-empowers the intellectual left.

For a century, an ambitious, arrogant, unscrupulous knowledge class -- social planners, scientists, intellectuals, experts and their left-wing political allies -- arrogated to themselves the right to rule either in the name of the oppressed working class (communism) or, in its more benign form, by virtue of their superior expertise in achieving the highest social progress by means of state planning (socialism).

Two decades ago, however, socialism and communism died rudely, then were buried forever by the empirical demonstration of the superiority of market capitalism everywhere from Thatcher's England to Deng's China, where just the partial abolition of socialism lifted more people out of poverty more rapidly than ever in human history.

Just as the ash heap of history beckoned, the intellectual left was handed the ultimate salvation: environmentalism. Now the experts will regulate your life not in the name of the proletariat or Fabian socialism but -- even better -- in the name of Earth itself.

Environmentalists are Gaia's priests, instructing us in her proper service and casting out those who refuse to genuflect. (See Newsweek above.) And having proclaimed the ultimate commandment -- carbon chastity -- they are preparing the supporting canonical legislation that will tell you how much you can travel, what kind of light you will read by, and at what temperature you may set your bedroom thermostat.

Just Monday, a British parliamentary committee proposed that every citizen be required to carry a carbon card that must be presented, under penalty of law, when buying gasoline, taking an airplane or using electricity. The card contains your yearly carbon ration to be drawn down with every purchase, every trip, every swipe.

There's no greater social power than the power to ration. And, other than rationing food, there is no greater instrument of social control than rationing energy, the currency of just about everything one does and uses in an advanced society.

So what does the global warming agnostic propose as an alternative? First, more research -- untainted and reliable -- to determine (a) whether the carbon footprint of man is or is not lost among the massive natural forces (from sunspot activity to ocean currents) that affect climate, and (b) if the human effect is indeed significant, whether the planetary climate system has the homeostatic mechanisms (like the feedback loops in the human body, for example) with which to compensate.

Second, reduce our carbon footprint in the interim by doing the doable, rather than the economically ruinous and socially destructive. The most obvious step is a major move to nuclear power, which to the atmosphere is the cleanest of the clean.

But your would-be masters have foreseen this contingency. The Church of the Environment promulgates secondary dogmas as well. One of these is a strict nuclear taboo.

Rather convenient, is it not? Take this major coal-substituting fix off the table and we will be rationing all the more. Guess who does the rationing?

Seoul Race Report

The race in Seoul was a bit disappointing. For the first time in my (admittedly short) draft-legal racing career, I failed to make the lead pack on the bike. And it wasn’t that I didn’t swim fast enough. Several people who came out of the water behind me managed to get on the train for the 6-lap bike through the financial district of Seoul (There is something pretty cool about riding on closed roads in the downtown of a city of 10 million people). I didn’t think I had a bad transition, but it wasn’t quick enough for me to get on. The race was in the lead pack. I didn’t have a great run for 14th place in what was admittedly a competitive CC, with three former world ITU champs competing and with a $50K prize purse.

The swim started fine—competitive with lots of fighting for position. I was in the back of the lead group on the swim as we exited from lap 1 and dived back in for lap 2. On the home stretch of lap 2, I got boxed in between Ben Collins (Amateur World Champ) and another athlete. The three of us battled each other pretty well. I couldn’t really go anywhere. My goggles got knocked off, I paused to reposition them, and continued on. I became risk averse though, only able to see out of one of my goggle sockets. I game up on trying to move up and thought I would be ok anyways. I was out of the water and up the steps quickly (I don’t think I lost time here), but I got on my bike just behind the fast-forming lead pack. I looked behind me for people to work with to catch, but all the people who came out of the water near me had transitioned poorly and were nowhere to be found. I worked the first lap of the bike alone, trying to catch onto the lead of about 10 riders. I almost got on at a hairpin turn, but didn’t quite make it. I ended up tt’ing by myself for the next 3 laps before eventually being caught by a small chase of 5 riders. I came off the bike with this group about 1.5 minutes down on the leaders.

The run didn’t feel very good and there is not much to say. It was hot and humid. I drank a lot. I did have the fastest run split among the American contingent, but it was not real impressive.

The race was very well run. People were saying it seemed more like a WC than a CC and there was speculation that Seoul is bidding for World Champs or some other major event. The race committee took real good care of us with full accommodations, food, etc. The travel went very well. While I didn’t find a whole lot redeeming about the city (with all of its cars and air pollution), the people were remarkably friendly and helpful (to someone who doesn’t speak a word of Korean). The day after the race, the American contingent of Dave Messenheimer, Chris Tremonte, Ben and myself headed out in search of a pool to swim in. We kept asking people on the street and finally ended up inside a gym, where an aspiring Korean actor agreed to drive us to the pool. He then bought us each a bottled drink at a quick shop before sending us off for our swim.

Thank God for globalization. Quiznos and MacDeux saved me again. Food in the hotel included all kinds of seafood—and it looked real gross. The other Americans were more adventurous and willing to try the local cuisine. And, sometimes, my risk aversion really pays off. Intent on having a local dining experience the night after the race, they walked into an alley, pointed to a dish some local were eating at a streetside café and ordered it for themselves. It didn’t take them more than one bite to realize they were eating intestines. They couldn’t take another bite—it was chewy but couldn’t be chewed and it tasted really bad. I had pizza that night. It tasted good and could be chewed and swallowed. The Quiznos that I ate at the day before the race had just opened 2 days before—good timing. Barrett has a good report on his race in China here. If he had just headed to the Golden Arches, he could have avoided eating eggs that are wrapped in feces and buried in the ground, as well as eels with their heads still attached (see pics below).

Next on the agenda: Alcatraz, then off to Europe for FISU Games and two World Cups. Here is hoping for faster transitions in those races.

Race Venue:


Chris Tremonte, Me, Ben Collins:


Salvation!:


Why I eat at McDonalds--Ben and Chris eating intestines:


The crap eggs Barrett got to eat in China:


The eels Barrett got to eat:

Seoul, Korea ITU

Sorry for the lack of updates for the past week or two. I've been pretty crazy busy. I spent my birthday at a conference on biofuels in Illinois organized to help inform the UK Renewable Fuels Agency which is writing regulations for biofuels policy in the UK. My prof and I had to write a report for them before their last meeting this week. Support for biofuls is up in the air following a report that says biofuels actually emit more carbon than gasoline when accounting for land use changes (as forests are cleared to make land available for growing energy crop, the carbon stored in the biomass is released. hence this new finding). Anyways, that took up a lot of time.

I flew Thursday am to Seoul and arrived 7PM local time on Friday. The race is Sunday. As I write, its about 10:30 local time. I feel pretty good. But this city is smoggy and humid. Its kind of gross. It looks like all those pictures we've been seeing from Beijing. Anyways, I'll update more later. I am borrowing a buddy's computer and internet and he wants i back. I return to the states Monday and will have more to say about the trip then.

Trevails of Traveling for Tri

My friend, Barrett Brandon, is spending the summer racing for a French team and living in Toulouse. He has a recap of his recent travels and his first race. Stories like this are all too common in our equipment-intensive sport. Barrett also gives me a shout out in this post. (We were on the world university games team together in 2006 in Lausanne and both made the team for 2008 in Erdek in June, along with 2006 world uni athletes Ethan Brown, Justine Whipple and Amanda Felder). In 2006, we trained on a military base in Germany for about 10 days before the race. I didn't like the food in Germnay or in Lausanne (the french-influenced part of Switzerland), so I was always looking for the MacDeux, which is a relatively popular and classy brand in Europe.

Beijing's Test

From the DubSJ:

HONG KONG -- The Olympic torch has become an afterthought amid the devastating Sichuan earthquake. But even before Monday's disaster, its crowning moment seemed to come and go practically unnoticed: Last Thursday morning, a team of 19 mountaineers summited Mount Everest carrying the Olympic flame all the way to the top.

Every Everest expedition is difficult and dangerous, but this expedition hauled cameras, broadcast equipment, flags and a lighted flame up 29,035 feet. Six climbers participated in a short relay ceremony involving torches designed by rocket scientists to burn in the low-oxygen environment.

Beijing dreamed up this seemingly impossible scenario to drive home the message of China's awesomeness and power. How absurd it now seems. Until last week, the flame's journey had served mainly as a media opportunity for critics of China's role in Tibet. Now even that is pushed aside. The real challenge to Beijing's credibility and prestige today is not the silly torch spectacle or even its capacity successfully to host the Summer Olympics -- but its ability to meet the most dire needs of its own people quickly and effectively in full televised view of the whole planet.

- Leslie Hook

Heard on the Street: News About Beijing

News on the Olympic Scene

USOC WILL NOT BOYCOTT BEIJING GAMES OR OPENING CEREMONIES

Despite mounting pressure for countries, their athletes and their leaders to boycott or otherwise protest China for its policies toward Tibet and its relationship with Sudan, USOC Chairman Peter Ueberroth (who ran for CA governor in the 2003 recall election) has said the USOC and its athletes will neither boycott nor protest. When in 1984, the Soviet Union led a boycott of the Los Angeles Games citing concerns about the safety of Soviet athletes, China sided with the US and attended the games. China’s decision to attend the ’84 Olympics compelled other countries to do so as well, Ueberroth believes (He should know; He led the 84 organizing committee). In the end, 140 countries attended the games. The Soviet boycott is considered largely a retaliatory move in response to the US boycott of the Moscow Games in which only 80 countries competed.

Care is being taken to ensure the US does not embarrass China. The US will parade at the opening ceremonies (and without the carbon filter masks athletes are being advised to use in Beijing outside competition and the opening ceremony (see below)). Also, care is being taken to ensure individual athletes abide by a code of conduct that will proscribe overt protest while respecting freedom of speech (a delicate balancing act to be sure). The code is reportedly going to be enforced more strictly and thoroughly than ever before. (Strict blogging rules will also be in effect.) President Bush has also said he will attend the Olympics and the opening. Germany’s Merkel and France’s Sarkozy have said they will not attend the opening.

BEIJING BRIEFING

The USOC has been busy planning for the Games, with an emphasis on contingencies for almost every eventuality, including ‘A’, ‘B’, and ‘C’ plans. It has sent 16 sea containers over to China to ensure it has proper equipment to meet athletes needs, including food needs—a major concern. Apart from the Olympic Village that houses athletes, the USOC has contracted with Normal University in Beijing to provide training, housing and eating facilities for athletes, staff and sponsors. Food in China faces less strict safety standards in the US, prompting concerns about food borne illness. As the NY Times reports, some protein has also been found to be so pumped full of steroids that athletes would test positive in anti-doping tests by WADA. So the US has contracted to have major shipments of meat and grains arrive at the training center two months before the Games.

USOC Senior Sport Physiologist Dr. Randy Wilber is recommending that athletes arrive in Beijing as close to their events as possible (Triathlon will be training in Korea and arriving just a few days before the triathlon August 18). He is also recommending use of activated carbon filtration masks when athletes are walking around and training in advance of competition. The IOC also plans to postpone endurance events—including triathlon—on smoggy days.

Dr. Wilber does believe the smog will be brought under control for the Games, but that heat and humidity could present challenges to athletes. Both are expected to be worse in China than Greece.

If only they could have funneled their energy to me...

Inking a deal with Avia

A dream sponsorship deal is one in which you get to work with great people to promote a product you believe in. That is why I am so happy to have met Ed and Julie of Avia at Wildflower this weekend. They contacted me after seeing photos of me winning col nats in their Avi-bolt racing flat. Then I met them this weekend and was really impressed with their enthusiasm for the sport. Avia is title sponsor for Wildflower and they do a real nice job. The brand was all over the place this weekend. It made me really excited to be joining the team. I raced the Avi-bolt again this weekend and its about the only thing that went right in my race. I ran on rough trail terrain, up and down steep hills, over the longest distance I have ever run in a race and I didn’t get a single blister. Oh, and I did it all barefoot. I have come to expect a blister or two as the price for foregoing socks, so I was happily surprised.

Avia had moved away from endurance sport and triathlon for a while. But under new leadership, they are really trying to break back into the market. My good friend and fellow 2008 col nats Champion Amanda Felder had been working with Avia since before Col Nats and has nothing but great things to say about the people and the product. They had an entire row of RVs for their staff and athletes to stay in. They were parked right in the transition area (see pic below). That is pretty cool.

I look forward to working with Ed and Julie and the other great people at Avia to support their shoes and my triathlon endeavors.

Welcome New Readers

I want to welcome new readers who found out about us at Wildflower, thanks to the gorilla marketing of Robyn and Melissa. I haven’t really set any expectations for this blog yet. I’m new to this whole blogging thing. My hope is that this will be more than a diary.

Thanks for great friends

I had a great group of supporters at Wildflower. My failure was not for lack of effort on their part. As I came back into the lake area after my longest-ever bike in a race, the Cal Tri crew was all painted up, spelling out “BEARS” or something, and yelling and screaming. They made such a scene that the announcer took notice and said something about how excited they were to see me. After I went passed them, they headed to a good position to see me on the run, and the announcer apparently made some comment like: “That was all for him? Just for him?” Then on the run, I was walking when the entire Cal Tri contingent saw me. They started yelling and screaming for me. I had to start running. They got me going for another 1-1.5 miles before I finally gave it up. But they also chalked the road for me. It was awesome.

Then, when I quit, Keith from Zoom-Pac Bikes was there and so was Muddy Waters, who coaches the Alcis athletes. They have both been great sources of encouragement for me. It was good to have them there when I felt so demoralized. They told me to think about two weeks ago and to know I would have it in me to finish another time. I really appreciated have them and the Cal Tri Crew—Kim, Robyn, Melissa, Dwight, Curtis, Kenny, K-Haas, Sabine and Own—out on course. A race like that is mentally and physically exhausting. Their encouragement was a big help.

Third time is a charm, right?

It’s becoming quite clear that I need a steeper learning curve when it comes to long course triathlon.

Last year, I started my first-ever long course race at Wildflower and suffered a two-minute stand-down penalty on the bike for riding oblivious to elite non-drafting rules, which are different from amateur rules and quite convoluted (They require athletes to be staggered on the road to the right of left of the rider in front of them, regardless of how far in front the rider is). I also dealt with ghost shifting problems that I later realized, with the help of friends, could be attributed to my riding a 10 speed bike with a 9-speed cassette from my disk wheel. I dropped out, not wanting to ruin myself for the Oly-distance race the next day; I hoped to defend my win from the year before.

This year, I rode a 10-speed cassette and rode staggered on the road. But, no, that doesn’t mean I finished and it doesn’t mean there wasn’t more learning this year. After coming out of the water in the top 5 with the lead group and riding strong (still in the top 5) for about 35 miles, I started to get uncomfortable in my bike position (which is perfect for Oly-distance races, but perhaps too aggressive for this long of a race) and started to fatigue a little. I finished the bike ok, having been passed by about 6 or 7 guys on the last half of the bike and pretty much given up on finishing in the money (With a good race, I think top ten was within reach. I really wanted to finish my first half, so I kept going. I ran fine for about 7 miles, hitting up water at most aid stations. After telling myself I wouldn’t walk the tough hills of miles 4 and 5, I had to walk around mile 7. I walked a bit, started running again, walked again up the hill in the camping area, tried running again, walked again (and at this point started dealing with emotions). At this point I was telling myself its okay to walk, but you must finish. Then I came to the Cal Tri cheering squad (which was in full force). They got me to run a bit more, but then I came to a big hill around mile 10 and started walking it. Then I tried running a bit more and my body had it. I couldn’t go anymore. I turned around and walked (probably about 2 miles back to the festival area).

So what did I learn this time? Eat, even if you don’t feel like you want to or need to. By the time you think you need to it, it’s too late. I ate two gels on the bike and drank about one water bottle and one Gatorade bottle. On the run, I drank water at about 5 of 8 aid stations. I started to feel hungry in the run. After the race I asked people how much they ate—wondering what went so wrong and suspecting I didn’t eat enough. The consensus was I should have taken on at least 4 times as many calories as I did.

I pretty much went into the race not respecting the course or the challenge a 70.3 race presents. I thought to myself that I had bike that long in training this season and run nearly that long, so it would be no problem to finish. I couldn’t have been more wrong. The pain I felt on Saturday was different than the pain I feel in Oly-distance races. I think what I did no Saturday was the most excruciating endeavor I have ever undertaken. Probably I could have made it less bad if I had eaten properly. Regardless, I have a whole new respect for triathletes who race the long distances. It’s a very different beast than Oly-distance. One I will hope to tame next year (or maybe later this year).

2 Days Left

So I finally met my roommate at about 11 last night. Name is Ben. He's a thrower from Australia and pretty dank. He started teaching me all of these Aussie expressions, like "to have a bonk." (Remember that Powerbar commercial from the Sydney Games...Don't bonk). Anyways, he's made his B cut and hopes to get his A cut on Friday. Then he'll be "sworded," as he put it. Aka he'll have punched his ticket to Beijing. In another life, I want to come back as a thrower. You get to eat a lot and sleep in. Ben didn't get up until about 11 this morning. Another observation: stuff is cheap here if you carry foreign currency. He's bought sunglasses and a new blackberry.

Training was fine today. Ran past Cassie today (not like I overtook her; we were running opposite directions) and she said "hi." Yeah, it was epic.

Photo of the Day: This pic from the Rhodes BG World Cup won second prize for action photo at the World Press Photo Awards over the weekend. ITU turns out nice pics on a pretty regular basis.

Back at Chula OTC Sans Chu Crew

I returned to the Chula Vista OTC today for what may be my last week. I plan to drive up to Wildflower this weekend, race the LC, and then continue home to Davis where I can swim with my old age-group swim team, the Davis Aquadarts, and enjoy three group rides per week. I am approved to be here at the OTC through mid July when I plan to head to the COS OTC for a camp. But there isn’t room to bring someone else in to train with me and I don’t want to make my professor back in Berkeley mad at me for staying down here too long. It’s so nice down here that it will be real tough to leave before they kick me out, but I think I will try it Friday AM.

Its strange being back without the Chu Crew here. The place isn’t the same without Alicia Kaye, Jarrod Shoemaker, Ethan Brown and Mike Orton. Even my suitemate, the intern Janet Ho left today for her home in Iowa (she’ll be back, but probably not before I leave). I have a new roommate, but I haven’t met him yet (and I’ve been here all day). It’s so weird because I leave and come back and he’s gone, but I can tell he has been here. I think he’s a thrower. Its 10:45 right now. Where is he? Anyways, Mikey O had been my roommate and we joked about how strange Ethan was with his roommate who was a complete stranger. Now I kind of understand how the whole thing is a little uncomfortable. I also went on a 3 hour ride by myself; it sure would have been nice to have the Chu Crew there.

I started looking through old photos of the Chu Crew. I share some of them with you below.

PS: I watched A-Idol with Cassie tonight...


The Chu Crew on a ride southeast of San Diego and the OTC.

The Crew in the Caf--where the good food is.

Ethan playing pool.

Ethan making use of his fuel belt.

Mike O and Ethan cuddling.

Steve and Cal Tri in the Daily Californian Today

Bears Refuse To Quit Until They Snag National Crown
Led by Olympic Hopeful Sexton, Cal Breaks Its Second-Place Curse and Takes Home Top Honor

By Caroline Ogawa
Contributing Writer

After a 1.5-kilometer swim and 40k bike, Steve Sexton embarked on the last leg of the USA Triathlon Collegiate National Championship race-a 10k run.

Only three more hills, then a two-kilometer sprint to his first men's individual national title.

But now he had to rely on his teammates-the 34 other members of the Cal triathlon club team that began the race knowing they wanted more than another second-place finish ...

READ MORE

Sexton Named Cal Sport Clubs Athlete of the Year

At a season wrap-up event for the 30 teams of the Cal Sport Clubs program, Steve was awarded "Athlete of the Year" last Friday.

"He wins every race he enters," said Sport Clubs Director Trineice Durst. She said Steve helped lead Cal Tri to a dominant team victory, the first national title earned by a sport club during her tenure.

Steve said he was humbled by the award and grateful to his team.

"It's so important to have good friends to help motivate you and calm you before big races," he said. "We have the most supportive coaches and enthusiastic athletes of any team. That makes a big difference."

Reflections on Oly Selections

After Matty Reed claimed the second US Oly berth last weekend, it constituted something of an upset, even though the Kiwi transplant had the number one ranking by USAT in 2007. The establishment favorites for the Beijing team were Hunter Kemper and Andy Potts, who are recognized as most consistently turning in top American finishes. Now one of them isn’t going (except possibly as an alternate). They are tied for first in the race for the final Oly team spot based on performances at the Beijing WC in 2007 and Trials last weekend, with no one else really in contention behind them. That means whoever is first across the line in Des Moines in June is going. Critically, whoever is second is not.

This must have USAT a little bit nervous. One of the two men considered to be the USA’s top medal contenders for triathlon will be watching from the sidelines. Reed’s victory in Tuscaloosa prompted some speculation as to how the race would have changed if the swim had been a non-wetsuit swim in order to better match the conditions in Beijing, where the water will be above the temperature threshold for wetsuits. Potts, is regarded as one of the best swimmers in the sport of triathlon. It was thought that without the equalizing effect of wetsuits, he may have had a greater lead coming out of the water. Or perhaps the group of three—Kemper, Reed and Brian Fleishman—that worked together to bridge to Potts would not have come out together and been able to work to close the gap if wetsuits hadn’t been allowed. If the group of three had been a group of two, the race could have unfolded very differently. Or if Potts could have waited for one other fast swimmer to come onto the bike without waiting for all the top contenders to emerge, then maybe his group of two could have held of the chase group of two that surely would have included Reed. That was the speculation in Alabama.

Well, wait a minute… On consecutive weekends, Reed has now beaten Potts. At St. Anthony’s yesterday, Reed showed it wasn’t a fluke in Alabama. In a hard fought race, Reed narrowly out-biked and out-ran Potts for the win. Notably, he posted a swim time just three seconds slower than Potts.

Because the US has to earn each Oly spot and because the third spot earned by the US and won by Reed last week is based on rankings, the US is in jeopardy of losing that third spot. Reed, not by virtue of having secured the third spot but by virtue of being a top-ranked American on the Oly rankings, must race World Cups to maintain a sufficiently high ranking. Hence, he is headed for his third race in as many weeks at the Richards Bay WC next weekend.

In other news, TriSexton.com editor Kevin Collington had a solid race at St. Anthony's to take 5th amid a competitive field. Nice work Kevin! Now spell check this!

Results from St. Anthony's

Wait, I Recognize that 'Face in the Crowd'

Its Ethan Brown, U23 National Champion

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/scorecard/faces/2008/04/28/

Sexton Praises Zoot

Steve Sexton on Saturday credited Zoot Sports with helping him achieve success in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. In new flash media feature on Zoot's website, http://www.zootsports.com/, Sexton offers praise for a sponsorship arrangement between Zoot, the leading multisport apparel, shoe and wetsuit maker, and the Cal Triathlon team. The partnership outfitted Cal athletes in custom Zoot race kits sublimated by Squadra, Zoot Ultra shoes and Zenith wetsuits.

"It takes a lot of support and great equipment to win a national title," Sexton said. "Zoot provided us with both. I couldn't be happier to share this victory with our friends at Zoot."

TriSexton.com Announces New Web Editor!

BREAKING--On the verge of graduating from the University of Florida, Kevin Collington has signed on as editor of TriSexton.com. Collington will be responsible for editorial content of the site.

"I couldn't be more excited to have Kevin on board," said Steve Sexton, owner of TriSexton.com. "He joins our staff at a critical time. He will be instrumental in developing content, increasing visibility, and running spell check."

"This is a great opportunity for me," Collington says. "I don't have a job and this could be a huge resume builder. I've been impressed with Steve's potential in this sport, and I am glad to be able to help him succeed."

TriSexton.com is also in contract negotiations with Mike Orton and Ethan Brown, according to sources involved in the discussions. The same sources say Orton and Brown may soon be added as staff contributors.

DEVELOPING...

Will the Real Jarrod Shoemaker Please Stand Up?

Breakfast of Champions

I'll be selling autographed Wheaties boxes for $50 each. Email me to get yours. For another $50, have breakfast with someone who trained with Jarrod for the past two months!

The Chu Crew Says Goodbye

For the past 6 weeks or so, I've been training with Jarrod Shoemaker, the first guy to make the 2008 Olympic team, and Mike Orton and Ethan Brown. We've been training at the Chula Vista Olympic Training Center near San Diego. We've done some real hard training and had a lot of fun. I am going to stay at Chula for a while. Ethan and Jarrod return home near Boston and Mikey O. will leave in just over a week for Germany. He's spending the whole summer there, racing with a German pro team. It's sad to see the camp end, but we are poised to have great seasons and see a good friend on the Olympic podium.

Here is a pic of the OTC: