Race reports, adventures, travel, fun, misc...

I was really happy to be back in Lake Placid.   You can't help but feel like a real athlete with all the Olympic surroundings here. This town is also special because it was the first   out of town trip I took with my wife   when we were dating. It was also where I completed my first Ironman in 2011 . I trained for this one harder than prior Ironman events. I cant say enough about my coach Ray Campeau and CX2 Coaching . I followed his instruction as much as I could but only got in about 70-80% over 6 months of preparation.   Thank you Ray Ray, you rock!   The crew at TMB Racing (also run by Ray) is unreal. I can't thank them enough for their motivation and camaraderie.   These guys are super fast.   It's an honor to train and race with them.   You guys made Ironman #5 special and unique for me. Ironman changed the swim start to self seeded waves instead of the chaotic 2,500 person mass start. This resulted in much less traffic ...

Mt Everest at 29,000 ft above sea level is the holy grail of mountain climbing.  Undertaking an Everest expedition is a very expensive, complicated and time consuming endeavor so I decided to try one of the closer 7 peaks first.  To get ready I summited Mt Rainier (14,400 ft) in Washington in June 2012 (story here)  to see what mountaineering is all about.  I had a great experience and a McKinley 20,322 ft summit made the bucket list.   To get onto an expedition team I needed to complete a 4 day expeditions skills seminar first.  I completed that also on Rainier this past February and cemented my spot on the May 6th Denali expedition team.  The experience is really hard to put into words but I’ll do my best.  The team first met one another in Anchorage Alaska on Tuesday May 6th.  We loaded up a van with our personal gear and food and drove about 3 hours to a town called Telkeetna.   6 climbers and 3 guides made up the team....

Ironman #3 is in the books. A little bitter sweet in that I had a really good race for the most part but still came in 56 seconds shy of a PR (personal record). Yes I'm very competitive against myself in these things. Cabo is a great setting for an Ironman. The course sandwiched between the Sea of Cortez and the mountains makes for incredible views throughout the day. Of course only if you can take your mind off the sufferfest you're in. Swimming directly into the sun for starters, 92* heat with zero cloud cover or shade through most of the day, and 6,000 feet of unrelenting hills on the bike. Logistics in Cabo are tough, everything is a hike. Renting a car which we did is highly recommended.  Without it getting around from registration, to bike check-in then bag drop offs (T2 different location from T1) would have been very tough.  The hotel was clueless about shuttles to the race or food availability for participants. The night before the race we ...

Now I know why they say that Ironman Austria is one of the best destination races out there.  With amost 3,000 participants, 100,000 spectators and a large part of the city and surrounding towns closed to traffic for most of the day the event just takes on a life of its own.  Think Olympic village + Tour de France vibe all in one.   I signed up for the race through Enurance Sports Travel (EST) again. Ken Glah's group (world record 29 Kona finishes) provides incredible service and I highly recommend them for any destination Ironman and Ironman 70.3.  The swim takes place in lake Worthersee. One of many gorgeous lakes in the Carinthian region of Austria. It is the clearest and cleanest lake I've ever seen.  It puts many Caribbean beaches to shame.  2,700 participants line up on two sides of a pier and prepare for a mass start.  This race had many more people than last year so they created a 1st way of 400 elite to go off right...

Telling people that I was going to be doing an Escape from Alcatraz triathlon usually triggered a “dude, you’ve escaped from your mind” look.    In this case, totally warranted.  This event was intense.  I hesitate to call it a race because for me it was just a slugfest from beginning to end.   I thought I was ready for it physically I guess but that’s about it.  This event proved (again) just how mentally prepared one needs to be to participate in this sport. I showed up in San Francisco already tired from only getting 4 hrs of sleeps the night before plus the 5 and a half hour flight.  Staying off your feet and resting the day before is highly encouraged for any triathlon.  That didn’t happen.  Race registration at Marina Green was a mile and a half walk from the hotel.  The lines were huge and it took about an hour to check in, sign 4 wavers, get my bib#, body marked etc..    That was follo...