Monday, July 28, 2008

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.

Monday, July 21, 2008

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...

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

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.

Saturday, July 12, 2008

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.



Wednesday, July 2, 2008

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!