The Devil Made Me Do It (Devilman 50 Lite May 5, 2013)

Well okay maybe not the devil, maybe myself after signing up in September. Devilman was my first real race of the year (a 50 mile Half Lite in early May) and I just did not want to race. Nonetheless, I woke up early in the morning and raced with a fun group of people from Philly. The day was overcast and cold. The water wasn’t too bad somewhere in the mid 60s while the air temperature was in the mid to upper 50s.

The race started and I didn’t know what to expect. Halfway around the first loop of the swim my arms were pretty numb (silly me only brought a sleeveless wetsuit). Then out of nowhere I got breaststroke kicked square in the goggles. I jerked backwards and then immediately had someone push me down while swimming overtop of me. Both guys looked back and apologized. I guess it was nice that they made sure I didn’t drown haha. I guess this is what I get for swimming in the mix of things but now it was on like Donkey Kong.

There were a few fans that we knew from our group of friends taking photos and this helped make the race enjoyable to look out for them. But enough chit chat, I don’t want to have a shower, shave, and a poop in transition like my brothers transition was. Now it’s time to bike and I did a good job pushing my limits. I rode 40 miles averaging just over 20 MPH which was great for me especially because I slowed down to force myself to pee in the middle because I convinced myself I needed too.

Now through T2 and I’m ready to run, or so I thought. A couple of hundred feet from leaving the second transition I trip in a sandy mess over the quick lace loops in my shoes. You know how the quick laces have instructions to get the length just right and then cut the excess? Well I read that and decided I was too lazy to do that. Needless to say I was destined to trip over the loop because I run pigeon toed and broke the lace while falling flat on my face. Haha I don’t think anyone saw my fall, but if anyone did they would have had to chuckle. I quickly loop knot the lace and continue on.

The run is 8.8 miles and after mile 1 I thought I had a rock in my shoe from the fall. I stop untangle my quick knot and shake out all of the sand and rocks. Nothing substantial fell out so then I take off my sock and brush anything off my foot, again coming up empty handed. I realized that my feet were just numb in spots from the bike due to being wet and then riding in the cold temperature. I accepted the fact that I was doomed to blister and continued on.

I didn’t push my limit in this race. I felt good but I wanted to just take this as a stepping stone for the rest of the season. I was chasing people down on the run and refused to let anyone chase me down. With a mile to go and no one in visible sight to chase down anymore, I grab water and look behind me. Someone about a ¼ mile back is trying to chase me down, HA. You know I wouldn’t let that happen, and I taunted him a bit by peeking over my shoulder, like any good runner NEVER does. I’m never the gazelle. I’m usually the Lion! No worries this gazelle made to the finish unscathed and uncaught.

After the race, we all swapped stories about the race and had fun hanging out in Southern Jersey. Some fun stories would be Tristan using duct tape to patch his wetsuit, Steven feeling good on the run after spending an hour in the transition, fun new sunburns from the run course, a funny snot picture from the bike course, a couple of friends making it to the podium and getting sweet swag. All in all the day was good and the race season officially started because the Devil Made Me Do It. This is going to be a fun year. 
 

Have You Seen My...

... shifter! That's right, yet another mechanical issue haha can you see what's missing in this picture? It's the cap to the shifter for the front ring. Luckily I was able to stop, ride backwards and find it on the road while people behind me were charging forward. I needed it to do the shifting so I just kept the cap in my pocket and pulled it out whenever I needed it.

Despite taking about 4 out of the previous 6 weeks off from working out, the Half in Quassy came at a perfect time. The swim was flat, clean, and fun with a blinding sun glare for about a third of the swim. My swim time was almost identical to Mooseman a year ago.

The bike course was a fun rolling course with a little more climbing than rolling, but still fun descents. My goal here was to keep high RPMs on the climbs even if it was in a granny gear and slow. In the end this paid off and made me more effective for the rest of the race. Maybe if I was in better shape I would have pushed some harder gears. Oh this isn't what you wanted to know. Ok when do you think I peed on the bike? That's right, about mile 40. I only peed once on the bike so I was probably a little dehydrated but fortunate that the race was short.

The run started and ended in the same place, but it felt like the run was entirely uphill. I knew this would be a long day so I sprayed some sunblock in T2 to minimize whatever burn I would get. Finally I met up with Steven around mile 6 and try to give some pointers for the heat. He was strong and more than able. After some Gatorade salts and more hills I finally made it across the finish line with an average time, but a tremendous finish.

After being called out for pulling the high five move, I decided that my finish line photos need to be more interesting. I was pretty sure I heel clicked
across the finish line, but according to the photos, the heel click was really just a Mario Brick Breaking jump.


Overall, the day was a success. Just under 2 months from Placid, racing half the distance on a comparable course in comparable race conditions, suffered a great deal, swam well, and nailed the nutrition plan, all friends crossed the finish line and yet another successful coaching day.

A Look Into 2013, A Very Exciting Year!

What’s happening for 2013? Let’s see… Barbie and I are getting married in November, we bought our first house this spring, I started a new job in January, we have 4 other weddings for friends, I’ll become an Uncle 2 more times this spring, I’m helping my brother prepare for his first crack at Ironman, and oh yeah I’ll probably do some races this year too!

Offseason training:

Swimming with the fins is continuously speeding me up in the water. This winter I trained at Breakaway’s RPM classes with the one, the only, the awesome, the Todd, and I can’t wait to see the results on race day. Running has taken a little bit of a deficit but that’s alright because I can ramp this up super quickly.

Preseason Events:

I went Postal swimming for the Fins in January completing 3600 yards in 1 hour. I became a Philly Phlyer in my first ever Time Trial which was in a nice little snow flurry of the cold month of March. A day after the Time Trial I raced through Wilmington at Caesar Rodney in some still frigid temperatures with a lot of leprechauns. Overall I’m happy with my preseason results, and quite frankly just pleased I could even get them in.

I’m so stoked for everything this year, most importantly Puerto Rico in November. And with all of these exciting events this year, the stress of triathlon season and the Ironman will be dramatically depreciated and I’ll be able to just race for fun instead of trying to prove something. Maybe I’ll even have better nutrition and no mechanical problems this year!

Here’s my 2013 Race Schedule:

• May 5^th – NJ Devilman Half Lite (~50 miles)
• May 25^th – Hammonton Tri (tentative if not travelling)
• June 2^nd – RevTri Quassy 70.3 (Connecticut)
• June 22^nd – Philly Sprint
• June 23^rd – Philly Olympic
• July 28^th – Ironman Lake Placid
• August – TBD fun local races if any
• September – TBD fun local races if any
• October – TBD fun local races if any

My Right, My Priviledge, My Ironman Tattoo

Why? This is the first question I get from people when they learn about my tattoo. I’m not sure if they’re asking “Why did you get a tattoo?” or “Why did you design it like you did?”

First let me answer why I got the tattoo. Part of me has always wanted to get a tattoo, but I never wanted to be tattooed with something that meant absolutely nothing to me. I discovered a lot of unique M-dot tattoos during my first triathlon in Philly, and I had to learn what these are all about. Once I learned the M-dot is the Ironman symbol I became intrigued and wanted to become a part of this race. Most of these tattoos are on people’s calves, and every time I see one, I immediately felt tons of respect for the person while I work to keep up with them. I decided early on that if I ever completed an ironman, I would get some sort of Ironman/M-dot tattoo because I just simply thought it was cool.

In 2011, I raced my first Ironman and that ended in turmoil in a crash with the guardrail near the end of the first bike loop. “You don’t need to get a tattoo now; you’ll have a nice looking scar!” Ever since that accident it was no longer a question of if or where would I get the tattoo. I would get the tattoo WHEN I finish my first Ironman and I’m having it put underneath that gnarly scar on my shoulder.

I went through a bunch of different designs trying to incorporate many different emotions and moment of significance from the race for me. The crash with the guardrail will always be with me as the scar on my left shoulder. That scar will remind me forever that I’m lucky that accident was not worse and no matter what happens I would “tri, tri, again”. With this in mind I don’t need the guardrail in my design. I saw the silhouette of NYC in someone’s tattoo and I thought this was a great idea. Such a large part of my life is Philadelphia. I was born in the suburbs, grew up a huge Philly sports fan, graduated from LaSalle University in Philadelphia, and for the most part have lived in Philly since graduating, taking everything in.

The Philly skyline still didn’t seem like enough. I needed the silhouette of Rocky with his arms raised at the top of the art museum. Why you may ask. Why Not! Rocky is an inspirational story of a small time boxer who is given a shot to rumble with the Champ for a shot at the title. Rocky trains his hardest, realizes his limits (knowing he’s not as good as Apollo, the Champ), and still pulls off the unimaginable stunt of going the distance in Rounds with Apollo, which no one has ever done before. Watching any of the Rocky training montages and listening to the music will motivate anyone to push their limits. Rocky represents Ironman’s motto that “Anything is Possible”, he represents the competitive attitude of Philadelphia sports, and he never gives up. In the latest movie Rocky says, “It ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.” The Ironman event is much about how you can handle all of the stresses that are being put on your body in one day and still find a way to keep moving forward until you get across that finish line. And most importantly Rocky holding his hands in the air reminds me a lot of the energy at the finish line. Everything you have left gets poured out emotionally and physically in those last steps with your hands in the air, fans cheering you on. No one can take that from an Ironman finisher. I’m lucky to have been able to capture all of this with my tattoo.