One week out from Rec Plex, Nikki and I traveled over to St. Louis to visit her parents and to do another race, this time a 5k. Advertised as a fast course, it was predominately a slightly downhill run. After my last 5k time of 24:00, I was determined to do slightly better! My goal was to break 20 minutes…Once out on the run, things felt good. Sure there were people passing me that never could have in the past, but I was feeling decent and thought I had a pretty good shot of breaking 20 minutes. First mile I ran about 6 minutes even, next I went about 6:30, and the final mile was about 7 minutes. Final time of 19:59!

I’m writing this a little late, considering this race happened in June and it is now late August… This will actually be a good exercise in remembrance, I hope to never feel the same way about a triathlon again, or at least not for the same reason. I had signed up for this race early in the year as an elite competitor, I had done the same race in 2005 as an elite and had placed second to Shawn Oneal, I was hoping to do as well again this time, if not better. Of course, I hadn’t planned on the little set back I had experienced in April. Now, rather than battling the elites and hoping for a win, it was a new set of emotions I was experiencing, was I even going to be able to complete my first triathlon of the year? Would my body allow me to continue and give me hope that someday I could return to my previous level?

Upon arriving at the race site at the crack of dawn, my first order of business was to try and make sure that I could get out of the elite division. I really wanted to remain at the front of the swim; I was the second person to sign up so I would be the second in the water, but I really didn’t want to do the course twice as an elite. Initially I was told I couldn’t drop out of the elite division, but finally I was told that I could. However, I didn’t have to give up my spot which was great since with my fragmented trapezium, any collisions with swimmers would have probably knocked me out of the race, even something as simple as my hand hitting another swimmer… Starting at the front of the race, this wasn’t as likely.

I used to be a pretty slow swimmer, but I had really worked hard on this over the winter. Cape Girardeau had been a great swim, but I hadn’t been swimming as much since the accident, and had only had about a weeks worth of swimming to get back in shape. Once in the water, things felt pretty good. I did end up getting passed, but only by one person who ended up with the fastest swim time of the day, Jillian Peterson. My final time was 8:40 which came out to be 1:35 per 100 yds, not as fast as at Cape, but faster than I used to swim, I can live with that.

After a motivated sprint to my bike, I had a slightly slower transition than normal; I got to take the time to put a wrist brace on. Biking had been a little rough; any bumps really amplified through my fragmented trapezium, stabilizing it seemed to help a little. The only problem with getting faster in the water, now I didn’t have quite as many people ahead of me to chase on the bike. Not that I was in any kind of shape to be chasing! Instead I was the one being chased…

Probably 6 or 7 miles into the race, I heard a sound I’m not all that used to hearing, the sound of a biker with a disc overtaking me. I decided this was probably something I was just going to have to get used to. Turns out, not only was I getting passed, it was a girl, Amber Mounday. Not going to lie and say I wasn’t tempted to draft, I hated getting passed but I let her go. Only, now I had someone to chase so I picked up my pace enough to keep her 15 to 20 meters ahead. Eventually she pulled away and I ended up getting caught and passed by Ted Zderic as well, but in all I had a decent bike, nothing like I used to be able to do though… 19.78 mph on a course I’ve averaged 23.9 on before…
Once in T2, I tried to work the quick transition like I used to. It wasn’t too slow and actually got out ahead of Amber Mounday. Wasn’t the best idea as I shortly got passed by her on the run as well. The bike had been slow, but besides the hand while going over bumps, it really hadn’t hurt. The run however was painful, my knees ached and I began to wonder how long I could go before I had to stop and walk. Eventually the pain subsided enough to where I knew I could make it. I was getting passed left and right, but I no longer cared. I knew I was going to finish, something I hadn’t known for sure I would ever be able to do again. I though for sure I would be crying as I crossed the finish line, I choked up several times before I got there. The tears weren’t there but I was crying on the inside as I crossed that line.

My parents had made it to the triathlon and it was nice to see them at the end. We hung out and watched as Nikki came across shortly thereafter.

It was a slow “race” for me, more than 10 minutes slower than the previous year, but I wasn’t complaining. I was back to doing what I loved to do and while I hadn’t done as well as I would have liked, I had finished and left myself plenty of room to improve…

Just when I was getting into a groove with swimming, I came down with strep throat. Had me out for about a week until the antibiotics did their job. Tried to get right back into the swing of things with some quality training, and ended coming back down with strep… Once again I went back on antibiotics, only this time I took two full weeks off to make sure I was fully recovered. I was warned I might have to have my tonsils out if I got strep again… I was a little worried as my throat has been sore over the past weekend, but after taking two weeks off I couldn’t wait any longer to get back to training. Now that I’m actually working out again, the throat doesn’t seem to be too bad, though I wouldn’t call it 100% yet. Defintily ready to start training again, though I’m going to work back into slowly…

As 2004 came to an end, I approached 2005 with high expectations and motivation. My main focus during the first few months of 05 was building a strong aerobic base with high mileage running. It was going to be my first “stable, uninterrupted” triathlon season. In 2004 I had been plagued by Achilles tendonitis, I had graduated from college, purchased a house, and had switched my position on the bike radically by acquiring a Cervelo P3. Sure I had done decently in 2004, had even won the inaugural Ultramax Championship Series, but I knew my training and circumstances had prevented me from living up to my full potential. Turns out 2005 would be more of the same.I didn’t think anything could prevent me from defending my Ultramax Series Championship and I certainly wouldn’t have guessed that I wouldn’t enter a single Ultramax event on 05. But then, I never would have guessed that I would quit my job, sell my house, and move to Columbia. 2005 would have me doing all three as I accepted a job as the logistics director for Ultramax Events (as well as maintenance director for Missouri Lions Eye Research Foundation).

Along with the move came new living quarters, no longer was I a home owner but I was now sharing a house with several individuals. The home owner, Natalie Suttmoeller pictured here with her husband Kevin,

is a Kirksville resident who I was put in touch with through my triathlete friends, Rodney and Dianna Adkison. In addition to Natalie who is a nurse, I’m also sharing the house with Dr. Duc Nguyen, a cardiologist and all around good guy. It is comforting to know I’m surrounded by medical personal, especially following a difficult workout… This aspect of the move has been great and I have enjoyed my new digs and fellow residents, though Natalie keeps telling me she can cook and I have yet to see any evidence…

So once again my season was unstable and interrupted, though I was able to take advantage of increased training opportunities. It wasn’t the breakthrough season I was hoping for, but I was still able to compete in 26 different events.

One of the highlights of the season was the annual CMC trip to club nationals. This year it was in Houston TX. While we didn’t bring back a championship, we had a great time and it was a highlight of the season since I met my girlfriend, Nikki Reed on the trip. Funny I would have to drive all the way to Houston to meet her…

So 2006 is here now. Who knows if I’ll get my “stable, uninterrupted” season? Maybe this is how it will always be?

05 Season Results:

 

I meant well, I was going to update this more frequently, honest! However, not everything is in my control, part of the absence has been my fault. My girlfriend, Nikki Reed and I did take some time off to go backpacking. That’s the one of the goals of backpacking, get away from technology; goal accomplished results in no updates…

Then there are the things out of my control, the things I can’t fully explain. One day everything was fine, beautiful 50 degree weather in January with an enjoyable 50 mile ride. The following day I thought a run would be in order. But as the day went on I felt less and less like running and by the end of the day I was in bed with a fever and chills. Turns out I had contracted strep throat.

On the positive side, I did finally finish the book I was reading, “Lance Armstrong’s War”. Great book, definitely gained insight into Lance and the workings of the Postal/Discovery Team. I found a couple of sections I just had to share. The first is about how concerned cyclists are regarding body weight.

The second section, much later in the book, discusses the effect of “going out on the razor’s edge” which is basically getting the minimum weight possible combined with the best level of fitness possible and still remaining semi healthy.

Fortunately triathlons require you to swim and run, not just bike, the razor’s edge isn’t quite as sharp…